TF Views

Head On, Fortress Maximus
I’ll admit, this series has come up with some odd “menace of the week” ideas. This time, it’s a giant carnivorous alien plant that demolishes a skyscraper and threatens a city. The Autobots head out to fight the thing and the Decepticons at the same time. The sheer size of the menace forces Cerebros to finally transform into Fortress Maximus in order to destroy it. It’s interesting that the process requires a considerable amount of energy and can’t just be done at will like all the other Headmasters, a weakness that will play a part in the next few episodes.

Will Zarak ever come out of the shadows? Anime convention or not, it makes no sense to keep him hidden. I would expect such a storytelling device to be used for misdirection, or to conceal someone’s identity until the big reveal, but it’s not as though Scorponok is going to turn out to be anyone we don’t expect. It’s just the little headmaster bot that will ultimately go on to form the head of the large Scorponok transtector. So keeping him “mysterious” still seems bizarre to me.

Explosion on Mars! Maximus is in Danger!
Having succeeded in destroying his home planet and harvesting the energy, Scorponok sets his sights on Mars. He plans to blow up the planet and collect the plasma energy from its destruction. And while he’s at it, he plans to trap the Autobot Headmasters there and kill them as well.

Some of the Daniel/Wheelie hijinks are just silly, but overall there’s a real feeling that the Headmasters are struggling to stop the Decepticons, something they haven’t managed to do by the end of the episode. Indeed, Scorponok’s trap doesn’t destroy the Headmasters, but he is able to prevent Cerebros from transforming into Fortress Maximus by draining his energy at the moment of transformation, so he wins a more limited victory.

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.

I'll have some more episode thoughts up later this evening, but just a general comment on the series: I continue to be amused by the propensity of the episode titles to just flat out state what's going to happen. No obfuscation, no vague title that makes the audience tune in to see what it means, just a flat statement. I mean, I'm flipping through the DVD menu and spot an episode titled "Ultra Magnus Dies!". Do I even need to watch it now? Or "Galvatron/The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg". And of course, there's "Daniel faces his biggest crisis ever!" It's amusing, and I guess indicative of the different mindset in Japan when it comes to titling drama, at least for a kids' series like Headmasters.

Seriously... how does Galvatron survive being at the heart of Cybertron when the planet is blown apart? How in the world is he that indestructible? That would have been the perfect death for the character, killed by his own ego and brashness, but he's still around. Not that I mind, but it's hard to believe he's that tough. Can anything kill the guy?

andersonh1 wrote:I'll have some more episode thoughts up later this evening, but just a general comment on the series: I continue to be amused by the propensity of the episode titles to just flat out state what's going to happen. No obfuscation, no vague title that makes the audience tune in to see what it means, just a flat statement. I mean, I'm flipping through the DVD menu and spot an episode titled "Ultra Magnus Dies!". Do I even need to watch it now? Or "Galvatron/The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg". And of course, there's "Daniel faces his biggest crisis ever!" It's amusing, and I guess indicative of the different mindset in Japan when it comes to titling drama, at least for a kids' series like Headmasters.

I like to think that it's indicative of Japanese storytelling in a way that doesn't necessarily click with American audiences. American audiences like to be surprised. We like when things take a turn that we didn't expect, when we're surprised by an outcome. We don't expect Ultra Magnus to die. The Japanese, it seems like, get more out of the "journey" than the end point. It doesn't matter if you know Galvatron dies in this episode; there's still all the drama and impact of his 'actual death' to keep you entertained.

Because the surprise at suddenly finding out Ultra Magnus has been killed will be fleeting--unless you wait upwards of five years without paying any attention to the series at all or something, it's unlikely that you'll forget that Ultra Magnus dies in Headmasters. How many people, at this point, can even watch, say, Beast Wars, without knowing Dinobot dies in Code of Hero? His death is usually pointed out as a highlight of the series. But even if you know Dinobot Dies, Code of Hero is still supposedly a good episode. The same principle stands. This same thing explains why anime openings tend to have extreeeeem shots of characters who won't even show up for several episodes. (I remember one InuYasha opening features Sango, who doesn't even show up until after they changed to the second opening!)

There is that, but also, even though it says Ultra Magnus dies, you still don't know HOW he dies. I mean you never know, he could be killed by Galvatron or Sixshot or maybe he'll die when Wheelie accidentally fires a slingshot that ricochets off a control panel, bounces off a table, hits a light and then into a missile that UM was standing next to. Or maybe he just ran out of Energon. Note: One of these is his actual death, but you'll have to watch the episode to find out which

Onslaught Six wrote:I like to think that it's indicative of Japanese storytelling in a way that doesn't necessarily click with American audiences. American audiences like to be surprised. We like when things take a turn that we didn't expect, when we're surprised by an outcome. We don't expect Ultra Magnus to die. The Japanese, it seems like, get more out of the "journey" than the end point. It doesn't matter if you know Galvatron dies in this episode; there's still all the drama and impact of his 'actual death' to keep you entertained.

Because the surprise at suddenly finding out Ultra Magnus has been killed will be fleeting--unless you wait upwards of five years without paying any attention to the series at all or something, it's unlikely that you'll forget that Ultra Magnus dies in Headmasters. How many people, at this point, can even watch, say, Beast Wars, without knowing Dinobot dies in Code of Hero? His death is usually pointed out as a highlight of the series. But even if you know Dinobot Dies, Code of Hero is still supposedly a good episode. The same principle stands. This same thing explains why anime openings tend to have extreeeeem shots of characters who won't even show up for several episodes. (I remember one InuYasha opening features Sango, who doesn't even show up until after they changed to the second opening!)

I guess I just find it both amusing and an interestingly different way of titling episodes, enough so that I wanted to comment on it. It's not a bad thing, just different. Unless I really want to be surprised by the events of an episode, in which case the title can effectively be a spoiler.

andersonh1 wrote:I guess I just find it both amusing and an interestingly different way of titling episodes, enough so that I wanted to comment on it. It's not a bad thing, just different. Unless I really want to be surprised by the events of an episode, in which case the title can effectively be a spoiler.

You mean like, say, "Issue 125: The Death of Optimus Prime"?

That said, this isn't exactly the case, since there's always plenty of anime titles like "Jailhouse Rumble! Naruto goes down fighting?!" or "Tragedy! Ala Alba Destroyed Once and For All!" where they make it *sound* like characters are going to buy the farm, but usually it only seems like that until the last five minutes when they up and use their awesome new powers to come back and win the day anyway. It can kind of lead to you calling the title's bluff, so when a character really *does* die in one of these, it may come across as even more shocking.

I haven't written up any episode reviews in awhile, but I have been watching the show. I just have one question...

Galvatron can survive being at the center of an explosion that destroys Cybertron, but he dies when an iceberg crushes him? Say what?

He's not dead. Just buried and frozen. Comes back as Super Megatron.

Guess he was having an off-day though, yeah.

Gomess wrote:He's not dead. Just buried and frozen. Comes back as Super Megatron.

Guess he was having an off-day though, yeah.

Not during Headmasters he doesn't. I thought this was a bit odd as well.

I dunno, I never saw "strength" as being so linear. "Oh, you survived an exploding planet *somehow*, that means you MUST be able to survive being buried under ice..." It depends on near-infinite varying factors, not to mention that they're totally different events. "You got through your divorce ok, so surely you don't mind if I marry your child without telling you!"

And isn't it Sixshot who escorts Galvatron back to Charr after his supposed death on Cybertron? That's a pretty heavy implication that Sixshot used his Ninja Skillz to help Galvatron escape the planet's destruction and nurse him back to health afterward. But hey, I'm just clutching at silicon straws!

Of course, there's always the fact that the producers just realised they wanted to get rid of Galvatron and the quickest excuse they could come up with was to fridge him. I guess it would've been cooler if he'd died in a massive battle with the entire Autobot force, but they wanted to be able to bring Megatron back, didn't they.