My Review of Transformers: Animated season 1 episode 12– Survival of the Fittest · 2:05am Mar 29th, 2021
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
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Hey, guys. Tonight, I will be reviewing episode 12 of Transformers: Animated season 1 entitled: Survival of the Fittest. The Dinobots make a grand return in this episode alongside Meltdown and Colossus Rhodes as the main villains for the episode. Just as I went back to this episode in reflection, I didn’t even realize or remember how... slightly dark it turned out to be. Before I get to that part, I do want to acknowledge how well the writers pared Prowl and Bulkhead with Fanzone into an unexpected relationship. Seeing him getting used to the Autobots as being more than machines was really nice to see as he realizes what they are basically doing for the humans: protecting and watching over them.
His catchphrase: “This is why I hate machines!” is so hilarious every time I hear it. I loved it so much to the point where I even used that quote in real life ever since I was in middle school. I never really hated machines in general, but I always said it as an expression of frustration when certain devices didn’t work out so well. Yeah, I was so weird back then. XD
It was so awesome seeing not only Grimlock transform again into robot mode but also Snarl and Swoop into robot mode for the first time. Still, I really wish they spoke in the series. I can imagine Ernie Sabella voicing Snarl and Nathan Lane voicing Swoop in the show... because why not? Every show needs at least a Timon and Pumbaa!
Now for the part with Meltdown and his experiments... I had no idea how dark it really was until now. Those failed experiments were the results of being adult test subjects one of whom was his... lawyer?! Oh, goodness, that’s a good thing that was never shown on screen. I can imagine how excruciatingly painful it was for them. My fingers are cringing right now as I am typing this! It’s no wonder why he wanted to use Sari Sumdac as a perfect test subject since she was still a girl. Huh, Meltdown had clearly no idea what she was really made of... 😉
Those abominations were actually Pretenders, eh? Nice references to G1 as they resembled the Pretenders called Gilmer and Blood. Still, it was glorious to see them cower in fear before the mighty Dinobots.
I guess this episode was really good except I find it a bit questionable how Meltdown was able to escape prison so flawlessly without anybody knowing. Especially the timing of Sari’s capture and how quickly the turn of events happened during the night. I suppose this episode did some time-jumping a lot.
Overall, this was really good to watch. The Dinobots will no longer be hurt by Meltdown, and Sari can continue her training for self-defense against Decepticons... which I find ridiculous since she’s only a human... or is it another foreshadowing? Anyway, it gets an A-!
Peace!
I always hated Meltdown.
Time for trivia... and here my rule that prevents me from talking about previously talked about characters comes back to bite me in the ass, seeing as I already talked about the Dinobots. Captain Fanzone and Meltdown it is then, seeing as I want to save Bulkhead and Prowl for later.
1. According to Marty Isenberg, Captain Fanzone was named after Detroit native Carmen Fanzone, a neighbor of his and a former player for the Chicago Cubs. Due to the relative scarcity of Fanzones in Michigan, the real Fanzone had to sign a waiver before the character could be used. The real Carmen Fanzone also doesn't look or sound anything like the Animated one. Fanzone was also based on a character from British sitcom, The Thin Blue Line.
2. Meltdown and Prometheus Black were originally conceived as separate characters. Meltdown and Nanosec would have been two of several bio-engineered humans made by Black.