[Prime] S02E26 Darkest Hour

[Jaynz]

Well, I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum at first to let ya'll catch it on YouTube. But, we have a contender for "Best Prime Episode" of the 52, and maybe one of the best episodes of Transformers. Not many punches pulled in this one, a painful number of little-choice decisions by Prime, and some pretty good character moments in what can only be described as 'THIS is how an attack should look'.

Sadly, we all know that this sets the stage for the premise of season three, which has me concerned.

And, one phrase which made me happy: "Decepticons, transform and rise up."

[Knightdramon]

Hmmm, since I've been able to watch it, so can others, so we can spoil all we want I guess.

SERIOUS Spoilers beneath

So, the upcoming "General Vehicon" made his debut into the show--a silver and black jet Vehicon.

I felt bad for Optimus this time around. Lots of close calls this time around, though everybody bar one [or two] seem to have made it out alive.

Wheeljack shows up again [I'd be very pissed if he still was missing] just in time, Ratchet turns bitter to Prime's choice, the rest of the autobots don't get much time to interact.

Starscream finally, FINALLY, gets the upper hand in battle and shines through. An all out attack on the base indeed.

Wheeljack must have survived, though I wanted to see him fight solo rather than with his airship. It wouldn't make much of a difference.

I'd be surprised if Airrachind made it out alive.

I'd also be greatly surprised if Hasbro killed off Prime, but it appears to be the case. His um...energy signs on his arm stopped flashing seconds towards the blackout screen. I truly felt bad for him, his team is scattered, his planet is dead because of a choice he made, his oldest friend appears to distrust him entirely, and before he can effectively erase the tracks of his team the entire base gets blown up all over him.

Though to be honest, the entire fortress appeared out of NOWHERE [WTF...was it teleported? Built? Made by the energy from Cybertron? Not clear at the moment] and the Decepticons appear to know the location of the base with no hints whatsoever. It's probably going to be explained next season, probably not.

EDIT: Since I don't really see Hasbro killing Prime for good, the following three cop outs are always available:

Some sort of time travel, in which the autobots go back in time and rescue Prime.
Some sort of spark transfer to go with the Beast Hunters theme, in which Prime is transferred\miraculously saved in a body much like Leo Prime\Thundertron from the upcoming takara AM release
Prime miraculously escaped and use the Nemesis Prime dead body as a decoy

[Unicron]

Good episode. Like Vanguard said, lot's of nice character moments spread around the episode. Shame Soundwave didn't get any. He could have had a Vehicon stand in for him and I never would have noticed. Of course, they'd already built him up as a silent badass, so it's forgiveable.

Though to be honest, the entire fortress appeared out of NOWHERE [WTF...was it teleported? Built? Made by the energy from Cybertron? Not clear at the moment] and the Decepticons appear to know the location of the base with no hints whatsoever. It's probably going to be explained next season, probably not.

The Fortress was the result of the beam the Omega Lock sent through the space bridge. It either just magicly constructed the thing in place, or reformatted/cyberformed a mesa in the area where it hit.

As for knowing the location of the Autobot base, they had to know it was in/around Jasper, due to all 3 of the kids being there (they knew Raf was in Jasper from the last episode with Sylas). As for the exact location of the base, could have just been sheer luck they put the Fortress that close and happened to pick up the Autobots on sensors when they went topside to see what Fowler was talking about. Or, since they had located Jack, they probably knew where he lived, who his mother was, and could have traced her phone call to Ratchet and learned the exact location that way.
Tis all pure supposition though. Easily could be a plot hole they missed or just didn't care about, kid's cartoon and all that.

As for Prime's fate, I'm inclined to think he's either gonna be found and kept in Decepticon custody for a bit next season, or we're gonna find out he's been disarmed. Though I suppose Cybertronian artifact magic could be a fair handwave, since he had the Star Saber on him, and the Forge of Solus Prime was likely in the area.

[Skyquake87]

A very bleak ending to Season 2 with the Autobots scattered and defeated. A good episode, and whilst in a children's TV show its not unexpected for the humans to be saved, Prime's constant willingness to throw away the needs of the many against the needs of the few has really landed the Autobots and their allies in the sh*t now- as ultimately the end result has been even worse with Cybertron now totally beyond repair and Earth still doomed. Whilst making such decisions must not come easily, surely in the theatre of war there are times when you do have to go against your better judgement - or is this why the Autobots are so few in the Prime Universe - undone everytime by an unwillingness to fully follow through when you're fighting for your very existence (unless its against drones, which is apparently okay, even though the drones in Prime seem to be sparked? what's the difference there then?) It was a tough call, but i am surprised that the autobots left themselves wide open for such an obvious move by the Decepticons - with only four keys, was it necessary to take five 'bots into the field - and why was no attempt made to bring wheeljack into the fold earlier made? As for the Decepticons, well as usual any potential advantage is quickly lost due to greed - quickly over reaching themselves before they've even accomplished one goal. If the Omgea Lock possesses the power to re-format worlds, then surely it would have made more sense to reformat and rebuild their home planet befroe turning their attentions elsewhere - or was gaining control of Cybertron just an unexpected polictial advantage and really Megatron could care less? Shame about Arachnid too, whose likely dead now.

[starlord]

I starting to think Hasbro doesn't know what it is doing? Seriously, I thought that when they had G. I. Joe cartoon where the Commander gets killed in the chest. Poor Man is loony. He should be locked up somewhere, not killed.