#i want to know what things were like in the aftermath of Mandroid's control

[transingthoseformers]

NO BECAUSE I'M THINKING ABOUT THE EARTHSPARK S1 AND S1 TIME SKIP AGAIN😭😭😭😭😭

[cherrytimemachine]

Soooooo....How was earthspark, my friend? 😬

I know this has been sitting in my inbox for like two weeks, sorry bro.

Season 2 was... a lot. I have a lot of things I wanted to say about this, so I'll try my damn hardest to keep this as short as possible without it becoming an essay rant.

First off, it felt like they weren't really sure how to start the next season. They skipped through a whole year of potential plot. It felt like I the plot started midway through the season. I wanted to see the aftermath of the battle with Mandroid, the fallout between the Autobots and the Decepticons, the characters grappling with being under mind control. Dammit, I wanted Megatron angst.

Speaking of which, he wasn't in there enough. In the first season he was there all the time, but he was only in two episodes. I see this a lot with shows or movie sequels where they try to introduce new characters to keep the story interesting and fresh, but what happens is that they push the main characters into the background and essentially replace them. And they made everyone dumb for some reason. Like in the second episode when Mo's parents didn't even notice how weird she was being, like, what was that ?? I know it's a kids show, but good grief, at least try to make it more sneaky.

The Chaos Terrans were meh. They felt more like unnecessary additions if you ask me. I wasn't much of a fan of Aftermath, and Spitfire (who's name I kept forgetting for some reason) was interesting in the beginning, but her character arc went way off the rails really fast. How did she go from "angry competitive person who will do whatever it takes to win" to "murder is ok and fun actually"? That feels like a real leap in logic.

I think they're trying to pull that same plotline from Cyberverse with Shockwave, where his spark was just "made evil", leaving no room for depth or development with his character arc. I already made my thoughts on that very clear when I watched Cyberverse two years ago. I was really mad when I wrote that lol.

This season also has a major problem with the thematic elements being discarded from season 1. The story felt bland and flimsy, the characters were more like two dimensional caricatures of themselves, and the ending was beyond rushed.

I did have a few things I liked about it though. I liked the filler episode with the carnival magician, it's probably my favorite episode this season. The Quintessons looked cool as hell, and I hope we get more of them at some point. I also liked Terratronus a lot, and I wish they had done more with her. I'm glad this show is tackling the idea that the Primes weren't perfect, and they had flaws in their ideology. Mo actually questioned Quintus's decisions of making these new races to support his own and then abandoning them, and Terratronus defended his authority and ignored her questions, which I thought was well done showing how Terratronus has been trained to be loyal to her creator and refuses to question his choices.

The Starscream thing was ridiculous though. His potential was left in the dust. I was so ready for him and Megatron to have another fight where they address their hatred for each other, but that didn't happen. For most of the season, he was just kinda there being a no nonsense leader guy lacking in his own personality. He only got his time to shine towards the end, and he wasn't written very well. There was only one interaction between him and Hashtag, and there was no emotion behind it at all. Then he rips the sparks out the sparks of the Chaos Terrans, which I thought was excessive but cool anyway, and then he takes over Terratronus. Starscream's defeat happened way too quickly and they didn't even really explore what he was going to do when he got control of the titan. We didn't get to see much of his point of view on how he was going to transform Earth into their new home, we just knew that was his goal. I do wish they added more of the rift between Shockwave's ideas and Starscream's as well, it would've made their retreat much more impactful.

That's all I have to say for now. I could go more in depth with it (and the lack of Prowl and Tarantulas, don't think I didn't notice that), but much like the writing team, I don't have any ideas right now.

[blueikeproductions]

The EarthSpark Expedition game came out, and since no one is really talking about it, I’ll toss around my two cents. Spoilers naturally.

So first things first, the game’s placement in the story. I think most of us were going to write it off as an adventure in a micro-continuity that didn’t fit with the show. Well that is thrown out the window. The game takes place after S1, with a small recap in the form of a charming RP game by the kids and Terrans.

The story feels like an epilogue, documenting the aftermath of what happened to Mandroid after his Doomsday Project went kaput. Well, he seemingly survived, though we don’t see him in person until the end of the game, and he’s giving the Doomsday Project another crack with the Energon Activator. This time he requires three relics to power the contraption, so naturally Bee is sent on a mission by Optimus to collect them, with Alex as Bee’s wingman.

The twist however is Mandroid has upgraded his mind control chips, having reprogrammed Skullcruncher, Skywarp, Nova Storm and Grimlock again, but also Optimus Prime, meaning Mandroid was playing 4D Chess to get Bee to essentially do his dirty work for him. It is kind of interesting Manny had to reprogram the jets since they willingly served him before, but then again after trying to obliterate (TERMINATE!) all Cybertronic life it makes sense the femjets wouldn’t want to anymore lol. Poor Grim can’t catch a break, but this time he seems to shrug off the experience, mostly calling it unpleasant. To my surprise, Skullcruncher can talk here. I wonder why he’s largely mute in the show (besides what I assume is budget).

Optimus being mind controlled is interesting. I know EarthSpark sorta dabbled previously, but it’s been fairly rare for Prime to be “charged with Evil” ala Attack of the Autobots. The Last Knight did it too, but well we all know how that went down financially. The point being after years of Prime being sort of rigid and untouchable, in what feels like heavy mandates from Hasbro, it’s refreshing to see some experimental stuff with Optimus again. EarthSpark’s strength with Optimus was returning to the well meaning, dorky sweater vest father figure from G1, and going farther with a AotAutobots/Dark Awakening vibe with Expedition is especially fun. Especially since it was a big defining moment for Bumblebee and Rodimus, so it’s fun to see it homaged here.

I also like the designs of the various henchbots Bee fights in the game. They appear to be generic Transformers, but I forget what their context was in game, but could we get toys of them, Hasbro.

As for Mandroid, when he finally appears in person, the truth is revealed. The Mandroid we’ve been following is an AI backup of his personality made before Doomsday MK1. The original officially died. His current body is a giant misshapen Arachnimech with tv screens bolted to its body to show off his original human face. Inevitably, Mandroid looses and finishing him off, Bumblebee blows a hole in his body with a MegaMan style charged shot. Hashtag says Mandroid likely can’t revive again as the ruins of GHOST HQ, now overgrown with plant life curiously and looking like ancient ruins in a shot amount of time, has really cruddy Wi-Fi, so the AI couldn’t escape into another body. Bee nevertheless seems determined in case Manny DOES return, implying we COULD see him again in S2 in some capacity. That being said, the vibe I get also feels like Bertram from Family Guy. How he died in show following a botched attempt at killing Stewie via time manipulation, only to return in a Family Guy video game as the main villain picking up where he left off, only to die again with a nonchalant joke about how we’ll never see Bertram again after this. So 50/50 at Mandroid’s return methinks. For all we know, as of typing, the villains of S2 are COBRA as part of Energon Universe synergy.

Still the story was fun. Definitely very Furman, and kinda nostalgic as a result. The Terrans are all perfectly in character of course. The only thing kinda holding it back is the voice acting, as none of the actors from the show are reprising their roles. Though the actor who played Bee in Netflix WFC reprised the role here, and he’s definitely one of the better actors, when otherwise the acting is a little… subpar. Way better than WFC and Prime Wars, but having that amateurish feeling from Cyberverse… They give it their all though and they still feel like their characters so that’s good.

As said it feels like an epilogue, though while fun to see Mandroid back at it, it DOES feel a tad repetitive using the same Doomsday weapon but slightly different, and using mostly the same Transformers being “Robo-Smashed”. I feel like you could’ve gotten some cool gameplay using Shockwave, Soundwave (& the Cassettes), Bombshell, Starscream and Hardtop. Personally I’d have liked including some new Transformers, like how the TFP game was built around the Decepticons rebuilding the Unicronian Thunderwing, with him as the final boss. Something like that maybe, only Mandroid has unearthed a Combiner, a friend recommended the Masterforce versions of the Seacons, with the final boss being a Mandroid controlled King Poseidon. Ah well maybe for the sequel then.