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A PLAGUE OF INSECTICONS!
Nearing the end of the first season of Transformers we needed more toys. ENTER THE INSECTICONS! Episode Review!

by Andrew - July 8, 2003

I would first like to say a friendly hello to all of you that have flown in to view the miracle that is "Don't Copy that Floppy". Your mission was to use up all our bandwidth and you came through for us. I would give you a gold star but I gave my last one to Smokey in the forums. Also, I hope that some of you will stick around and read some of our older stuff.

Now that I've gotten that bit of nasty business out of the way, we can continue on to A PLAGUE OF INSECTICONS! DUN-DUN-DUUUNNNNN!!

There's only one reason for the gazillion different Transformers that were (and are) being made. Profit. Squandering little kids out of their parents money is something that Hasbro is a little too good at. And they've had practice. But you can only sell different variations of Bumblebee to the same kid so many times before they start to figure out that they're just getting the same toy over and over again. So, the Insecticons and hordes of other Transformers, some that never made it into the show, were made to delight and please the youngens. Isn't this a good thing? More Transformers equals good Transformers, right? Let's hope so, onto the episode.

The beginning of this episode starts off with these three dudes in the ass end of the tropical island of Bali. Bali is an island now? .. .. huh, look at that, it is. Now, the narrator calls this marshy looking place "Demon Swamp". So why on Earth would these guys be paddling through DEMON SWAMP, BALI!? That's gotta be one of the ten, maybe seven worst things to do, ever. And it doesn't end there; the narrator then mentions that this information is "widely known". It's widely known as Demon Swamp? These guys must be can't be too bright at all. Although, I have trouble believing that this Demon Swamp in Bali actually exists. So perhaps they didn't believe it either and wandered right into dangers path. I would also like to point out that their "paddles" are seriously lacking in the "paddle" area since they are nothing more than just sticks.

I think you can all guess what happens next. Yep, the three Insecticons, Shrapnel, Kickback and Bombshell attack. Not only do they attack, they attack hard. Well, kinda. I mean, they flip over the guys' boats and stuff. Probably took their lunch money too. Hmm, speaking of lunch... The dimwitted, oh lets call him Bob, Bob mentions that they should get back to the farm. The Insecticons follow them, hungry as they are, only to bring more wrath and destruction upon combines and umm, wheat apparently.


Hola crapa! That was a combine TWO SECONDS AGO!

Now, presumably Spike is a shortwave radio geek because he picks up a distress call that Bob or one of his friends sent all the way from Bali. However, Optimus and about half of the Autobots are off doing god only knows what when Spike recieves the SOS. Pff, half of the Autobots should be enough to ward off three measly Insecticons, right? Well not when Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons show up somehow. Megatron's bit of expository dialogue states that the Insecticons came to Earth in their own escape pod millions of years ago. So, while the Decepticons go do the old "meet and greet" with the Insecticons in the field, the Autobots present half-assedly hide in the other part of said field.

Then all hell breaks loose. I mean, the Autobots weren't hiding very well. A few corn stalks DO NOT hide a forty-foot tall robot, no matter what anyone tells you.

Meanwhile the rest of the Autobots a rushing towards the scene, only to be stopped by some sort of, I dunno, party the people of Bali are throwing in the middle of a canyon. Those crazy Balians, if that's what they're called, will they never learn? Instead of politely asking the party goers to move slightly to the side to let them pass, the Autobots decide to dig their way around. Whilst digging I have no idea how they know they're going in the right direction. It's gotta be magic, Transformer magic. Meanwhile: The other Autobots are getting their asses handed back to them.


GET-OUT-THA-WAY! IT'S PRIME TIME! (I'm glad I've never heard him say that)

Frick yeah! Optimus comes bustin' through a canyon wall just in the nick of time. Some might call it "being fashionably" late, the other Autobots might call it "about fucking time", I call it class. Prime's got style, and if you didn't know it, you do now. Just as soon as the Autobots attack the Decepticons, the Decepticons are off on a new adventure that involves an oil refinerey. What? Why did the episode suddenly take that left turn to the right? Well to put it simply, Soundwave, the loveable huggable Decepticon that can talk in three intonations, has a clause in his contract which states that he gets to use his energon cube making abilities in each and every episode, and twice on holidays. But really, I think that the writers couldn't get passed the "Decepticons are energy hungry" plot line. "An episode where the Decepticons don't want energy? Perposturous! Completely out of the question! What what!", is what I assume they'd say in their hilarious yet unexplained olde-timey british accents.

So, they're off to the oil refinery. I still don't see why they couldn't just set up some solar panels, roll out the barbeque, with Starscream doin' the burgers and Megatron lounging in the hammock. I mean, the sun is the most abundant power source of them all, but maybe they hadn't learned that yet in 1984, when man was trying to destroy it.

The Autobots imediately take chase after the Decepticons to the oil refinery, only to find the Insecticons chasing after them! Oh what a cruel cricle! Shrapnel thinks it a good idea to use his "Special override waves" to take control of of a couple of the Autobots and try to ram them into Prime and the others. I think this plan would have worked if the only the animators would have remembered to ANIMATE THE INSECTICONS! Take a closer look.

Alright, total Autobot count: 3. Override Wave count: 2. Insecticon count: 0. Something's amiss. Really, when you're planning to kick ass, make sure you have the animators animate you, otherwise you're just not gonna get anywhere.

After this sad excuse for an attack, Brawn asks Prime to throw him up to the Insecticons to do some damage. Unfortunately, this is another sad excuse for an attack and Brawn, nearly immediately, gets the crap kicked out of him at 2000 ft. The Insecticons seem to think this is a good time to leave and rejoin the Decepticons at the oil refinery, so, they take off, I guess. No time to brag for these three, no sir, they're all business all the time.

The last segment of the episode is action packed with exploding shit everywhere. Everyone now at the refinery, Shrapnel, it seems, has control over lightning and starts literally throwing the stuff at the Autobots. When asked, Wheeljack says the lightning "tastes terrible". I always thought it would taste rather minty. Maybe he doesn't like mint, we may never know. The Autobots are taking a pounding and Spike is only one that can figure out that they all should just transform back into vehicle mode so that their tires would insulate them from the lightning.


This rules.

Since somebody has to stay in robot mode to kickass, Optimus and Wheeljack stand atop their comrades and start with the afore mentioned "ass-kicking". Megatron thinks poorly of this and shoots at a big oil tanker and tries to throw it at the oil refinery. Prime comes in and, of course, stops him just in time.

The Insecticons, watching the Decepticons sucking hard, start to wonder if they picked the right ally. So they decide to turn on the Decepticons by using the energon that Thundercracker and Soundwave toiled for many, many minutes to get. Megatron is not pleased and orders their destruction. Now, that's where Megatron rules. I wish I could order destruction and have it carried out for me. Although, I guess Megatron wishes that as well since his orders rarely come to fruition. Failure seems to be standard fair for the Decepticons and the evil ilk. Anyways, the Insecticons take off and with the Decepticons in hot pursuit leave the Autobots the winners pretty much by default.

Overall I'd say that this episode was pretty good. You had the introduction of new characters with good character designs and a sweet battle at the end. The animation glitches, as always, add to the episode in so many ways that don't seem possible. I'd give it..

Andrew
AIM: Terrahawk X
E-Mail: andrew@ninjacultr.com

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