Headmasters discussion

[Shockwave]

I guess the thing that really struck me as odd is that he can survive being dropped into lava but he can't survive the arctic ocean? I mean, I suppose one could legitimately argue that cold is one of his weaknesses and that his body isn't designed withstand it the way it was designed to tolerate heat, but that's a bit of stretch. I would think that if he could handle extreme temperatures one way that he could handle them the other way.

Of course I suppose it could also be argued that it just took a long time for him to recover since apparently he does come back later but in the scope of watching only Headmasters it did seem kind of odd.

[Gomess]

Lava? You mean on Thrull back in S3? That was "plasma." Yeah. Cartoons don't know what plasma is. =/

(I think we can call it "dangerous goo", but not lava, unless I reeaally missed something.)

And nah, it makes much more sense to be able to handle one extreme or the other. Imagine a polar bear in the desert, or a rattlesnake in the arctic.

[Shockwave]

Is that was that was? Weird. I thought they said it was lava somewhere.

Yeah I guess you're right. It's like Fire Man being vulnerable to the Ice Beam in Mega Man.

[Gomess]

Yeah, except ALL Decepticons are super-weak against the Headmasters' Hand-Holding Hoop of Hallucinogenic Harrassment.

I love the special moves they pull out of their behinds in the Japanese G1 "trilogy", and hardly anyone seems to mention them.

[andersonh1]

Yeah, the whole "circle of power" thing they do to attack Galvatron is out of nowhere. When they were just equalizing their power, that type of move made sense to me. But the whole "new powers as needed to win an unwinnable fight" isn't the best storytelling.

And to me, the whole question of whether Galvatron is vulnerable to heat or cold is really irrelevant. The explosion that ripped Cybertron apart should easily have destroyed him, since he's far smaller and presumably far less durable than a freaking planet. If Galvatron can survive a planet-busting explosion, a little ice should be a walk in the park. It's just terribly inconsistent.

Another general observation: the next episode on the DVD menu is "The Miracle Warriors: The Targetmasters" part 1, or something like that. It's interesting to me that I'm well over 25 episodes into the series, and they're only now introducing the Targetmasters. It seems like they'd have shown up far earlier. But the Headmasters get 90% of the screen time every episode, even if other characters do continue to make appearances.

And what's up with the planet names? Planet Sandra? Planet Beehive?

Don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying the show, and I"m glad I bought the DVDs. It's been fun to watch, no doubt. I'm just amused and interested at some of the dramatic choices being made.

[Onslaught Six]

Anime shows are slow burn. Remember RID? RID was a parody of HM, Masterforce and Victory. (Well, somewhat parody.)

[Gomess]

The explosion that ripped Cybertron apart should easily have destroyed him, since he's far smaller and presumably far less durable than a freaking planet.

Sixshot. I cannot stress this enough.

...I mean, doesn't Sixshot just casually *turn up* with Galvatron when he returns? Come on. There's something going on there. I can just imagine him ninja-teleporting Galvatron out of the explosion, leaving a little cyber-log behind him.

[andersonh1]

Explosion on Mars! Scorponok Appears!
I have to admit, I didn’t expect Scorponok to actually succeed in destroying Mars, but he does. The Autobots are unable to find and defuse the bombs as the Decepticons successfully defend their positions. Speaking of Scorponok, we finally get to see him, and he’s just the little yellow robot that forms the head of the larger Scorponok body (which also makes an appearance). So what was the point of hiding his appearance all this time? I don’t get it.

Twincast and Soundblaster get into another fight. Twincast seems to have become the Autobot espionage director, which at least gives the character something to do.

There’s a quick fight between Fortress Maximus and Scorponok, but the Decepticon retreats. We do learn that the feud between him and Cerebros is personal, since Cerebros exiled him from planet Master at some point in the past. Daniel was worried that destroying Mars would rain debris on Earth and do massive damage, but we don’t see anything like that happening. It looks like the planet is vaporized rather than blown into chunks.

I have to say, so far the Autobots look pretty ineffective and the Decepticons under Scorponok look good. It’s rare to see the villains win several major battles in a row, but effective villains are obviously better than ineffective, so it’s good storytelling. Here’s hoping the Autobots get a win or two soon.

Return of the Immortal Emperor! or The Return of Galvatron
It’s great to see Punch/Counterpunch actually acting like a double agent. His role in this and subsequent episodes is better written than his scenes in “The Rebirth” where he babbles about his “Autobot counterpart”, begging anyone with a brain to make a connection. In any case, as the title card reveals, Galvatron returns in this episode after being at ground zero of the explosion that destroyed Cybertron. How did he survive? None of our business… he’s Galvatron, darn it, and he just can’t be killed by planet-busting explosions! Seriously, the writers don’t even bother to explain it. He’s just back, and he’s spent the past few episodes watching the Decepticons to see how they do without him. He’s not impressed. And neither am I, even if I don’t mind seeing Galvatron return, if only because it annoys Scorponok, who was all set to take over.

And the Autobots lose again, big time. They have to retreat. Cerebros, you’re even less effective than Rodimus Prime. Thankfully, he’ll start winning some fights soon, but he’s done poorly up to this point.

Daniel Faces his biggest Crisis Ever
Spike, you really ought to know better. You can’t negotiate with Decepticons. They’re going to lie to you, hence their name. Still, for those of us who wonder why the whole war wasn’t solved by constructing and sharing energy production, this episode answers that question. The Decepticons are jerks. You just can’t get along with them. Spike of all people should know that, having grown up around the Transformers.

And having just agonized over leaving Daniel and Carly on Earth, Spike turns around and lets Daniel go out into space with the Autobots? Say what?

The Horrorcons turn up in this episode, and don’t do a lot to distinguish themselves, apart from being a bit tougher than the other Headmaster Decepticons. Still, it’s cool to see them animated, just as it was when they turn up in “The Rebirth”.


SOS from planet Sandra
Planet Sandra? Really? Maybe plain-jane English names are exotic to a Japanese writer? I know I’d think “Planet Hikaru” would be pretty cool. Maybe that works in reverse? Still, I can’t help thinking of other planet names in the same system, like Planet Bill or Planet Kathy.

“Headmasters” becomes “Star Trek” as the crews of starship Scorponok and Maximus head out into the universe to start planet-hopping adventure. The Decepticons are looking to plunder energy to further some plan of Galvatron’s, while the Autobots want to stop them and protect life. The writers take the time to shoehorn an ecological message into this episode as the inhabitants of Planet Sandra have used up all their natural resources. Spike gets to be all preachy and earth-centric in his thinking. There aren’t too many other episodes in Headmasters that take this approach, so this one stood out to me.

[andersonh1]

The explosion that ripped Cybertron apart should easily have destroyed him, since he's far smaller and presumably far less durable than a freaking planet.

Sixshot. I cannot stress this enough.

...I mean, doesn't Sixshot just casually *turn up* with Galvatron when he returns? Come on. There's something going on there. I can just imagine him ninja-teleporting Galvatron out of the explosion, leaving a little cyber-log behind him.

Is there any indication that SIxshot can teleport though? I know he's got his ninja skilzzz and can make illusory copies of himself, and disappear, but is there any indication he could teleport to the center of Cybertron, grab Galvatron, and get out? I don't know that I'm convinced of that possiblity, honestly.

[Gomess]

Well, I'm *really* not into fanon, so honestly I'm not convinced of it either, but all the pieces are there. Sixshot's the only one who seems to be in on the fact that Galvatron survived, and Sixshot is a ninja with a spacefaring jet mode. It's just what I assumed back in the day.