My Review of Transformers: Animated season 2 episode 8-S.U.V Society of Ultimate Villainy · 1:07am Jul 4th, 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)
Greetings, family! Welcome back to another Transformers: Animated episode review! I will finally be discussing my thoughts on yet another classic episode of season 2: "S.U.V. Society of Ultimate Villainy". This was yet another great episode where Bumblebee once again learns another lesson as his rash foolhardiness kept biting him in the afterburner. Not only that, we also have a couple of returning antagonists from season 1 in this episode: Nanosec and Professor Princess. Ugh, we're having these unwanted supervillains (including Angry Archer) in this season as well, are we? I am so thankful this episode marks their last appearance in this show... unless they were going to appear again in the canceled season 4?
Anyway, as Bumblebee attempts to defeat the trio, a new villain arises from the surface and uses a time-slowing clock to briefly immobilize him. As it is later revealed, the new antagonist is Slo-Mo (voiced by Tara Strong). In my opinion, she is isn't that bad. I mean, she has an appealing design, voice, and personality. I think I like her more than the other supervillains, mostly because they were a little boring albeit with creative character designs. She was one of the good factors of this episode which is a shame since she never appeared again afterwards.
But enough of that, let's talk about the actual star of the episode: the Decepticon Arms Dealer Swindle!
He was the best part of the episode for me! He is a cunning, smooth-talking business con (pun intended) with so much charisma and humorous mannerisms. The writers really did justice to his character and portrayed him as someone who would trick anyone in the same way a scammer would normally do and used the clock to activate an even bigger device to deactivate all the machines. It shows that a Decepticon, even with oily manners, can never be trusted. Thus, this single Combaticon has become arguably the most famous version of the character and, dare I say, the best version. The fact that he was voiced by the late Fred Willard was a perfect casting choice since he nailed that oily, sly, and smooth language and tone for Swindle. Gosh, this was one of Fred Willard's best performances ever. May he rest in peace. 
As for Bumblebee, I liked how he learned the value of teamwork amongst his true team and had to appreciate them as such. Although the temporary collaboration between him and the S.U.V was really nice, they still couldn't resist getting that AllSpark-empowered time piece for themselves. At least they got what was coming for them.
Great story telling and great voice acting as well! I rate it an A-!
Peace!
You know, it's funny. Swindle is a lot less dangerous without the rest of his Combaticon buddies.
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Indeed. He's only dangerous with his intelligence, no doubt.
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I bet that blaster on his arm is just for threatening. It's probably not even loaded.
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Lol
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(Laughing)
Time once more for trivia, of the ill-gotten variety this time. All yours for a fair price, Mr. J. I accept all major credit downloads. Alright, enough copying one of my favorite Decepticons, let’s get to it. Starting with the S.U.V., since this is their last appearance in the show, due to Hasbro’s dislike for the villains in Animated.
1. In the Japanese dub of the series, Nanosec was renamed "Speed King" and reworked into a parody of popular cartoon and comic book character Lupin III, notably stealing his catchphrase, "Later, pops!" (Abayo, tott-san!), while making his escapes.
2. Angry Archer’s name and face are a play on Transformers design director Aaron Archer. The initial designs were conceived by Cartoon Network without Archer's awareness, and his original name would have been "Aaron the Archer," then "Aaron the Angry Archer." Once he learned of the character, the only change Aaron requested was to make the Archer left-handed, like Aaron himself. The Archer appears to be ambidextrous, though.
3. Angry Archer was intended to have a brief cameo in the season 3 episode "Human Error, Part II", in which he would be seen "sticking up" a Detroit citizen, only to have his mugging interrupted by several Sound Wave toys marching by in a parody of the Energizer Bunny commercials. The scene was cut for time according to The AllSpark Almanac II.
4. Want to know something hilarious about Professor Princess? Straight from Tfwiki, Professor Princess came across Starscream lying in a forest, trapped in stasis lock after his battle with Optimus Prime over the AllSpark. Starscream attempted to get her to reactivate him fully via manual restart switch...but because he didn't say "please", she gave him a faceful of Powdered Sugar's rainbow beam. After Starscream finally asked "nicely" for her help, Princess said that she'd fix him up...which actually meant give him a rather ridiculous makeover, complete with a pink wig and lipstick. Starscream's indignant cries earned him another rainbow blast, which actually jump-started his systems, letting him move freely. The only thing that saved Princess was the threat that should any harm befall her (or Powdered Sugar), an image of the "made-up" Starscream would be broadcast across the planet, if not the galaxy. Starscream politely let Princess go...failing to notice she had drawn happy rainbows and daisies all over his back. That’s right. Starscream got blackmailed by a little girl. Here’s an image.tfwiki.net/mediawiki/images2/3/39/StarscreamProfessorArrivalIssue2.jpg
5. Slo-Mo's name and appearance are based on Samantha Lomow, Hasbro Vice-President of Marketing, while her dialogue is based on that of various fast-talking dames from '30s screwball comedies.
6. Swindle made his appearance because Derrick J. Wyatt lobbied hard for him to show up. Why? Because Swindle just so happens to be one Wyatt’s four favorite Transformers. I’ll talk about the other three later.
7. Swindle has a bolo tie. That’s awesome.
8. Swindle also possesses a chest compartment which is capable of storing many, many things, such as weapons, Seeker accessories, and even an entire Autobot. Though, at first glance, this sounds virtually impossible, Swindle explains that he has a transwarp link to his own "personal storage dimension" within this compartment.
And finally…
9. Part of the idea behind Swindle's characterisation was that he started out as an Autobot and defected to the Decepticons; things like his purple eyes and small (for a Decepticon) body-frame were informed by that idea, and his personal storage dimension was conceived as his Autobot "superpower", with his weaponry being later additions. This idea never made it into the show, but was alluded to in Strika's profile in The AllSpark Almanac II, which establishes that she doesn't trust ex-Autobots and has a particularly strong dislike for Swindle.
Btw, don’t think that innuendo flew past me.
“Ooh, I like a man who works fast!"
"And I like a girl who takes it slow."
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Keyan Carlie, the owner of this Transformers: Animated YouTube channel, literally made this video based on that scene with Professor Princess in an animated format. The way it's done is hilarious.
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That’s beautiful. Btw did you see the innuendo in this episode?
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I try not to think about that because it was... distracting.
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Fair enough.