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Season One, Episode 12: Victory
Reviewed by Blackjack

Episode Review

It’s a decent episode, with Megatron’s evil plan actually being something new. However, you never believe for a second that the Predacons are truly dead, no matter how emo Dinobot gets. It’s more of the timing of the episode, really—if it had happened somewhere later in the series, it would’ve been more believable. Also, Megatron’s so-called master plan isn’t very smart at all… if Dinobot hadn’t shown up, the Predacons would still be bickering in the crevasse and the Maximals would’ve launched anyway.

Still, Dinobot steals the spotlight with the wonderful dialogue he has with Optimus Primal as well as Rattrap. It plays directly from his fear of returning to Cybertron seen in ‘the Probe’, and he even quotes Hamlet at one point. It’s a nice touch, littering Predacon parts all over the base to make it look as if the deaths had been real. However, the conclusion is way too convenient for the show. What, a simple sword stab into the control console and the ship could never ever ever fly again? It’s rather stupid, really. Megatron had simply donated a lot of starship parts to the Maximals with his plan. Not one of the best episodes, but still recommended for Dinobot’s scenes.

Notes

Dinobot quotes Hamlet. “Alas, Tarantulas. I knew him Cheetor…” This would not be the last time he does so.

When Scorponok shoots Optimus Primal down from the Axalon, it seems to be a reference to the scene where King Kong plummets from the building to his death. It could be coincidental, but then again…

Practically the entire sequence with Primal rescuing the Axalon is a reference to Superman. Rhinox, Rattrap and Dinobot go all “Look in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!”, although it’s not copied word-for-word. Noticeably, Primal is ‘down in the sky’ instead of ‘up in the sky’, since he flies up from the ground. Primal holding the underside of the ship as it lands is also very reminiscent of Superman, as is the music which accompanies the scene.

Goofs

When the Predacons shoot Dinobot and he falls, he appears to be floating on the ground for some time after the camera pans to Primal.

When Dinobot is shot down, Primal is in robot mode. After the screen fades out to signal an advertisement, Primal is in beast mode. He transforms into robot mode almost immediately after said break.

When the Axalon falls out of the sky, the CG model is mirrored, so the antennas and whatnot are on the wrong side of the ship.

In the original crash, the Axalon’s rear section was torn apart, with bent fins and much of the hull plating gone. This is even shown in the computer targeting system Tigatron uses. However, when the ship takes off, the Axalon is showroom-clean, with everything in its right place. Where on the Predacon ship could they’ve obtained the fins suitable for the Axalon? And besides, every episode afterwards show the Axalon retaining the hull damage, when it is shown to be repaired this episode.