thoughts on the Beast-era

[Dominic]

Megatron even stopped short of blasting Rattrap and Cheetor in "Aftermath" when he saw Inferno was in trouble and went to save him instead.

I always put that down Megatron not wanting too many of his troops to die in one day. (Remember, two of his guys fell into lava and died that morning. As Blackarachnia pointed out, he needed bodies.)

As for the duckie and pet-head, I am not sure how much we should consider those, when they were animator indulgence/whimsy.

Heck, one of his catch phrases was even "We're all gonna die".

Rattrap may have been a habitual complainer. But, Anderson is arguing, (and I would agree), that in "Beast Machines" the situation was far worse than anything they had seen on prehistoric Earth. On Earth, Rattrap may have thought he was going to die. But, at least he "knew" his home planet was relatively secure. In "Beast Machiens", he did not even have that much comfort.

Not shooting Megatron was cowardly, but consistent with how neutered the Maximals seemed to be in "Beast Machines".

Take "Call of the Jungle" for example, where none of the Maximals were allowed to transform to robot mode, eventually leading to a glitch in their programing. Or "Aftermath" and "Coming of the Fuzors" where the Predacons eventually wear down the Maximals to defeat (until Primal returns at the last second to save them).

Rattrap, like most of the Maximals, did not handle the events of "Call of the Wild" well at all though.

Even with an army of drones against them, the Maximals weren't that bad off. Really, season 1 they seemed to struggle more against the plans Rhinox put in motion than they did Megatron's. And in season 2 it wasn't until Obsidian and Strika were introduced that they seemed to have the most trouble.

The Maximals had no infrastructure. They had no secure place to go. And, they were out-numbered. That is pretty terrible actually.

Rattrap has just discovered he can manipulate machines, and he knows that there are machines SWARMING the city, any one of which he could've taken over (something he's done REPEATEDLY SINCE THAT EPISODE). And, let's not forget that it took a FULL NIGHT for Megatron to recover, something Rattrap KNEW; he had AMPLE time to whip himself up a Vehicon body suit, go in, and slaughter the bastard.

All of the Maximals needed their spines stiffened though. it took Primal most of season 1 to get around to actually fighting Megatron. They even make a point of saying that Primal was unwilling to do what was necessary to win. Remember how squeemish everybody got about the supposed "genocide" inherent to using the Plasma Energy chamber? One might have thought that there were more than 4 independent Vehicons, and that Vehicon culture was highly advanced.

Rattrap is kind of a boob later as well. Mid way through season one, when he hacks Tankor, Rattrap simply deactivates a large number of tank drones....rather than.....(use your imagination).

The Maximals not stealing weapons is entirely consistent with how they fought in season 1. It is foolish, but consistent.

The problem is that you continue to refuse to allow for changes in character and behavior based on changed circumstances. You expect Rattrap to always act exactly the same. I don't see that as either realistic or appealing.

Well, there is precedent for TFs being incredibly resistant to change. As O6 put it, TFs are stupid. But, it is also unlikely that any of the Beast Era writers were thinking about that.


Dom
-just what was Megatron loading at the space port?

[andersonh1]

just what was Megatron loading at the space port?

They never did explain that, did they? Were they constructing the big giant head? It did turn into a spaceship at one point.

[Dominic]

I always assumed they were prepping to expand. At first, I wondered about the Tripredacus Satellite and colonies. Botanica showing up in season 2 confirmed the latter part of that theory.

Dom
-would like to see "home coming" type stories, other than "Universe".

[Onslaught Six]

I always assumed they were prepping to expand. At first, I wondered about the Tripredacus Satellite and colonies. Botanica showing up in season 2 confirmed the latter part of that theory.

Would love to see that. Megs eventually reformats himself into Megabolt form, and then goes around the universe just ripping up resources and being a general conqueror. Hell yeah.

And then somehow he ends up in the RID universe and turns Brave Maximus into Metrotitan somehow.

[SynjoDeonecros]

I always assumed they were prepping to expand. At first, I wondered about the Tripredacus Satellite and colonies. Botanica showing up in season 2 confirmed the latter part of that theory.

Dom
-would like to see "home coming" type stories, other than "Universe".

My thoughts are that, after he took over the planet, if the Tripredacus Council decided to stick around, Megatron would go after them, first, thanks to Ravage's and Tarantulas' interference in BW.

[Dominic]

Even discounting Ravage and Tarantulas, it would make sense to kill the Tripredacus Council. They are leaders and could organize resistance. We know he killed/captured the Maximal Elders.

On the other hand, maybe Megatron was simply loading product for export/trade. After all, he may have needed things not available on Cybertron.

Dom

[Onslaught Six]

On the other hand, maybe Megatron was simply loading product for export/trade. After all, he may have needed things not available on Cybertron.

Very true. I once wrote a fanfic where Autobots on Cybertron were disrupting trade routes to Megs' supplies that were coming from off-world. They were primarily coming from that casino planet or whatever from the S2 episode, The Gambler.

[Sparky Prime]

I always put that down Megatron not wanting too many of his troops to die in one day. (Remember, two of his guys fell into lava and died that morning. As Blackarachnia pointed out, he needed bodies.)

As I said, Megatron does show he care/value his troops in Beast Wars.

As for the duckie and pet-head, I am not sure how much we should consider those, when they were animator indulgence/whimsy.

For one, how do you know it wasn't something mentioned in the script? And two, I don't think it would matter if it was an animator indulgence or not, it's still something clearly shown in the show establishing Megatron doesn't have the intolerance of organics that he does in Beast Machines.

Rattrap may have been a habitual complainer. But, Anderson is arguing, (and I would agree), that in "Beast Machines" the situation was far worse than anything they had seen on prehistoric Earth. On Earth, Rattrap may have thought he was going to die. But, at least he "knew" his home planet was relatively secure. In "Beast Machiens", he did not even have that much comfort.

As as I already pointed out, there were times in Beast Wars where the Maximals were on the brink of defeat in situations as bad as they faced in Beast Machines, if not worst, as eventually they found their history itself was at stake. Cybertron's security is not guaranteed when they're fighting to protect their own ancestors and preserve the timeline itself.

Rattrap, like most of the Maximals, did not handle the events of "Call of the Wild" well at all though.

As a result of the glitch in their programming. After overcoming this though, they gained a new appreciation for their beast modes.

The Maximals had no infrastructure. They had no secure place to go. And, they were out-numbered. That is pretty terrible actually.

No infrastructure? They followed Optimus, as they always had. No secure place? They often found security underground, something they got better at once they learned they could only be tracked in robot mode. Outnumbered? The drones were hardly much of a challenge for the Maximals even as outmatched as they were.

The Maximals not stealing weapons is entirely consistent with how they fought in season 1. It is foolish, but consistent.

You're forgetting that we're arguing consistency beyond the just first season of Beast Machines, but with what was established in Beast Wars as well.

[Dominic]

I meant that Megatron would have been worried about losing too many troops in the sense that he could not afford to replace them.


And, there is difference between following a leader and having infrastructure, such a stable HQ that is more than a cave. Yeah, the stealthy beast modes were nice. But, how well would you sleep on a planet full of Vehicons?

Dom

[Onslaught Six]

For one, how do you know it wasn't something mentioned in the script?

Because we have all the scripts from Season 1.