Predacons Rising (Animated)

« Transformers Animated ep 36 »
Battle of the arthropods.
"Predacons Rising"
Airdate	April 11, 2009
Written by	Larry DiTillio Bob Forward
Directed by	Kalvin Lee Yutaka Kagawa
Animation studio	Mook

Blackarachnia has plans... for Wasp!

Synopsis

The Autobots engage in a high-speed chase after Wasp through the city of Detroit. Though Optimus Prime says he believes even Wasp doesn't know where he's going, the fugitive former Autobot makes clear one thing: they're not going to take him while he's still online. Bumblebee nearly catches Wasp, but the interference of Sentinel Prime allows him to get away again. Optimus insists that Sentinel's responsibility lies on Cybertron and that he ought to deliver the remaining prisoners to the stockade. Sentinel counters that he's sure that Wasp knew about the attack on Ultra Magnus, and he intends to bring him in.

"Word on street izzz you're a jerk!"

With the help of the twins, the crew finally corners Wasp. Bumblebee tries to talk him down, but finds that his excuses fail to placate the fugitive. Optimus tells Wasp that the espionage charges against him have been dropped, but Sentinel again interferes and the two Primes get into an argument about jurisdiction. In the confusion, Wasp escapes again.

Taking pursuit, the Autobots are stymied when Wasp is plucked from the ground by the arrival of Swoop. They are only able to pursue the flying Dinobot to the pier before being forced to break off. Sentinel is infuriated, and has the twins grapple him to continue the chase. Optimus, realizing that Swoop is likely taking Wasp to Dinobot Island, begs Sentinel to hold off, as he hasn't yet explained what his former comrade would find there. Sentinel disregards this, and tells the twins to continue onward.

Wasp is brought to Meltdown's old lab, which has seen a considerable refit. In charge now is Blackarachnia, who looks him over. Satisfied that he has pure Cybertronian circuitry, she decides that he is ideal for her purposes and offers him a chance to have enough power to get his revenge on the Autobots. Showing him a transwarp generator, she explains that it has only been used for transport before, but she has found a new application.

"Why Wasp always get seated in smoking section?"

After reaching the island (with mild discomfort), Sentinel orders the twins to distract the Dinobots. They take this as a chance to attack, with Jetfire engaging in a dogfight with Swoop, and Jetstorm using his wind cannon to knock poor Snarl offline and lead Grimlock away from the entrance to the lab. Making his way inside, Sentinel is surprised by Blackarachnia and finds himself disgusted at the prospect of a Cybertronian with an organic mode. His disgust turns to horror when she reveals that she was Elita-1. Sentinel tries to explain that it was Optimus's fault for leaving her behind and that he'd always assumed she was dead. Instead, he finds her current condition a fate worse than death. As they talk, the transwarp pods begin to overload, and out of the explosion comes Wasp—now a technorganic wasp who has renamed himself Waspinator!

Now we know what lies behind her masquerade!

Reaching the island, Bumblebee has given up on trying to talk things out with Wasp, while Optimus says that he could start by apologizing first. In the lab, Sentinel is horrified by what Blackarachnia has done to Wasp and says that she has to be stopped. Blackarachnia is not that surprised that he's willing to kill his old friend, but Sentinel screams that she is not Elita-1, driving his lance forward and knocking her helmet off...revealing the horrifying technorganic face she now has underneath. Not wanting to see "Spider-bot" hurt, Waspinator attacks, but flies out of the room and crashes into Bumblebee. Taken aback by Wasp's new appearance, Bumblebee says that he's sorry for everything he did and didn't do during boot camp. Thinking about it, Wasp admits that he can forgive Bumblebee. Unfortunately, Waspinator is more interested in revenge. As he tries to attack, however, Waspinator begins to discharge transwarp energy.

You! You're not Sylvia! You're one of the Kung Fu Creatures on the Rampage....2!

In the lab, Optimus confronts Blackarachnia and says that he's the one responsible for her condition, not Sentinel. Blackarachnia doesn't care; she has every right to slag them both because of what happened to her. She also explains that she changed Wasp in the hopes that if she could change him back, she could change herself back into Elita-1. She isn't that concerned if he goes offline in the process. Unfortunately, Waspinator hears that comment and begins trying to attack Blackarachnia. With Waspinator's body starting to go critical, Blackarachnia flees outside, as do the Autobots, where the twins have dispatched the Dinobots. However, to contain Waspinator, Blackarachnia wraps him in a cocoon, and the Autobots barely manage to avoid being caught in the blast, which appears to destroy most of Dinobot Island. Optimus believes that Blackarachnia sacrificed herself to save them, but Sentinel believes that she sacrificed Waspinator to allow herself to escape.

At the Elite Guard ship, Optimus Prime's crew is seeing the Elite Guard off, though Sentinel is late. The twins poke fun at Sentinel's fear of organics, but Optimus tells them to give Sentinel a break: For all his flaws, Sentinel is still a good bot, in Optimus's opinion. Sentinel then arrives to have a private conversation with Optimus. Optimus apologizes for not letting Sentinel to go back and try to save Elita, and for not telling him sooner about Blackarachnia. Sentinel says that he's sorry they ever went to that planet, but it's too late for apologies, and the two Primes finally appear to bury the hatchet. Optimus points out that Cybertron's need for a leader is top priority, and that Sentinel is that leader, for better or worse.

Some pieces are made to detach if excessive force is applied.

Elsewhere, in a strange-looking jungle, Waspinator is still online, but must reassemble himself, muttering that he has "planzzz". A short distance away, Blackarachnia finds herself confronted with some local animals...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Optimus Prime (2) Bumblebee (3) Sentinel Prime (4) Jetfire (5) Jetstorm (6) Swoop (7) Safeguard (8) Grimlock (10) Snarl (11) Jazz (12) Ratchet (13) Bulkhead (14) Prowl (15)	Wasp/Waspinator (1) Blackarachnia (9)

Quotes

Bumblebee: Hate to say it, but Sentinel's got a point. I'd feel a lot safer with Wasp behind bars.
Optimus: That's not your call to make, Bumblebee.
Sentinel: And it's not your call to make either, Optimus. I'm in command.
Optimus: On Cybertron. This planet is my jurisdiction.
Sentinel: This is a Cybertronian fugitive, and I'll enforce my authority as the...the uh...primer Prime!
Optimus: Did you just make that up?!
Sentinel: No!
Optimus: There's no such thing as a Primer Prime!
Sentinel: It's a real term. Look it up.
Optimus: I'm not gonna look it up!
Sentinel: 'Fraid I'm right?

—Optimus and Sentinel engage in what can be politely described as a pissing contest.

Sentinel: Right, okay. Here's the plan. Give me a few nanokliks to get into position and, then, give me a diversion to draw them away from the entrance.
Jetfire: De version? Vat kind of version?
Jetstorm: Means for us to blow something up!
Jetfire: Oh, good! I am liking de version!

—The Twins enjoy blowing stuff up.

"I just never knew, never imagined that something this... unspeakable could have happened to you. How can you even live like that?! It's horrible! It's disgusting!"
"Okay, okay, I get it! It's bad, but it's not that bad, all right?!"
"No. It's worse. You should have gone offline."

—Sentinel Prime has more issues with Blackarachnia's condition than she does.

Blackarachnia: So that's it?! You just slag your old friend Elita-1?
Sentinel Prime: Don't say that name! You don't deserve to say that name!
(Sentinel swipes, knocking Blackarachnia's helmet off, revealing her true face)
Sentinel Prime: You're not Elita-1, you mutant freak. Elita-1 went offline a long time ago.

—Sentinel may actually be right for once, albeit coming from the wrong direction.

"Let him go, Blackarachnia."
"Why should I, Optimus?"
"Because I'm the one who left you behind. Sentinel's not the one to blame for what you look like."
"What I look like is only half the story. What I am is a lot more complicated."

—Optimus Prime and Blackarachnia, as the latter attacks Sentinel

"Hey, speaking of friends, I wanted to say I'm sorry—you know, for everything I did and didn't do."
"Wasp forgive Bumble-bot."
"Oh. Really?"
"BUT WAZZPINATOR NEVER FORGIVE!"

—Bumblebee and Waspinator

"C'mon, ease up, you two. [Sentinel]'s been through a lot."
"Never thought I'd hear you sticking up for S.P."
"He's a good bot... even if he doesn't know how to let go of a grudge."

—Optimus Prime surprises Jazz and the audience.

"Wazzpinator cannot go offline. Wazzpinator have planzz."

—Waspinator, foreshadowing.

Notes

Transformers references

• As the plot of this episode centers on Blackarachnia and Waspinator, the Animated staff recruited Larry DiTillio and Bob Forward, the head writers of the Beast Wars animated series, to script it. Consequently, the episode has quite a few references to Beast Wars, including:

• The title itself is, of course, a reference to the Predacons from Beast Wars, but it's a reference that doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense to anyone who doesn't already know what a Predacon is, since no one in the episode is actually called a Predacon at any stage.

• Although it's hardly a Transformers-specific term, Sentinel instructs Jetfire and Jetstorm to fire their jets at "Maximum Burn", which was a pretty common command phrase used by the Beast Warriors for firing their own jets. If it were anybody but DiTillio and Forward on scripting duties, we'd probably write it off, but...

• Just like his predecessor, this Waspinator can survive being blown to scraps.

What, no eagle/wolf Fuzor?

• The immortal phrase "Waspinator has plans!" was first uttered by the original Beast Wars incarnation of the character in "Other Voices, Part 2", and has since become one of the lovable little guy's most famous and popular lines amongst the fandom, leading to a reprisal in "Nemesis Part 1". In context, he was bemoaning his apparent looming demise and merely indicating that he had stuff he wanted to do with his life, but like a lot of the aspects of the original Waspinator that are adapted into Animated Waspy, here, it just comes off as pretty sinister.

• At the end of the episode, Blackarachnia comes face to face with a gorilla, a rhino, a green-eyed cheetah, and a very large rat. Interestingly, the script even calls the setting where this scene takes place a "primitive Earthlike planet." Hmmm. Derrick J. Wyatt encourages us not to read too much into the scene, however.

• "It's too late for apologies" is one of the most infamous lines of dialogue from the hilariously inept RTM 1 dub of the Japanese Headmasters cartoon, where it was spoken by a Goth-angsty Wheelie.

Animation Errors

• When Waspinator confronts Blackarachnia (immediately after she confesses to using him), his mandible does not move as he speaks. A screenshot of this error can be seen at the top of this page.
• In one scene, the Jet Twins' Elite Guard symbols on their hips are missing.
• Just after Waspinator runs into Bumblebee in pursuit of Blackarachnia, Bumblebee's chest plate briefly shrinks while tumbling then reverts back to normal size after.

Real-world references

• When Blackarachnia presses some buttons on her computer, they sound the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
• The transwarp experimentation chambers look and function exactly like the telepods from David Cronenberg's The Fly.

Trivia

• Bumblebee can drive up the sides of buildings! He's not the only one.

• When Optimus contacts Sentinel Prime to warn him about Dinobot Island, Sentinel shuts him off by tilting the 'antenna' on the left side of his head. His Deluxe toy actually does allow you to do this, but backwards.

• When Optimus and Sentinel discuss Sentinel taking over from Ultra Magnus, observe Optimus as he says "...and for better or worse..." He appears to squint uncomfortably, almost as if it pained him to say what he's going to say. Huh.

• Prowl continues to wear his new samurai armor even when he's not really needing it. Gotta sell that brand-spankin' new figure, you know?

• This episode marked the last appearance of Blackarachnia and Waspinator.

External links

• "Predacons Rising" streaming video at Cartoon Network (link functional until 5/25/09)