#sunstreaker and sideswipe used to hang out with slag and swoop

[theweirdestroller]

For the one person who reads Down to Earth and knows I wrote it; the Twins know both Slag and Swoop.

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 19: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

S: Bugs.  Bugs is what I'm getting at.

O: [Laughs] Oh, okay.

[Intro Music]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast.  An episode by episode recap of the generation 1 Transformers cartoon.  I'm Owls!

S: And I’m Specs!

O: And today we're gonna be talking about episode number 19, Dinobot Island Part 1.  Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Yeah.

O: We open with Bumblebee (plus jetpack) and Powerglide flying through the air heading towards some strange energy reading in the middle of the ocean.

S: [laughs] Bumblebee comms back to base, to get confirmation from Optimus Prime and when it cuts to the Autobots we see Wheeljack at the console, you know, Teletraan 1, the big screen and everything, and then everyone else is like a good 60 feet back.

O: [snorts]

S: They're probably afraid Wheeljack's gonna blow shit up again.

O: By basically manning their telephone? [laughs]

S: Don't underestimate Wheeljack's ability to blow shit up.  He's got a green thumb for it...or a black thumb? I don’t know…

O: He’s very, very talented at blowing shit up, let’s just go with that.

S: At least that’s how the fandom handles it.

O: I mean, fair.  Bumblebee however, seems to be very gung-ho about this mission and excited and kind of surprised that Optimus seems to think so highly of him.

S: Like, he's kinda--he's almost a little blushy.

O: Yeah, he is.

S: It's kind of cute.

O: It's--well, Bee is very cute.

S: It's-it's sweet.  Then Powerglide calls Bumblebee his ‘Little Bee Buddy.’

O: Which great name, it's a great name.

S: Yeah…

O: Ah, Powerglide, while flying slams into some sort of energy wave or energy field and says that it won't affect him because he's got too much ‘pizazz!’

S: Oh god--he's an idiot who thinks he dumped all of his points into charisma but clearly he didn',t and then again I'm having a hard time figuring out what stat he would have dumped them into because it's clearly not wisdom.  Maybe dexterity? And I'm actually really wishing now that I'd sat down and put together a fucking stat sheet.

O: Oh god, that sounds nightmarish.  All I know is that Powerglide talks about himself a lot.   I feel like he says his name like six times in sixty seconds in his introduction.

S:  Something like that.  He sort of speaks in pseudo third-person, it gets kind of old.

O: It gets old very quickly.

S: But they had to have some way of differentiating these new Autobots from the previous ones so you get a bit more, um, out there personalities and speech tics.

O: [snorts] I mean, I guess at least they have personalities?

S: Or speech patterns is what I meant.

O: Yeah.

S: Cuz you've got Warpath and...all of that.

O: Yeah…

S: They're suddenly attacked by a giant pteranodon that carries Bee away in its claws.  Providing his own narration, Powerglide then flies off to the rescue.

O: Bee looks like, super done through this entire sequence.  Uh, he even says something to the effect of, “Can't he just save a guy without doing a commercial?”

S: Honestly, the Autobots could probably earn money by you know, selling off Powerglide’s vocal--

O: Oh god.

S: --powers for commercials.

O: Yeah, he--he would make a good--good guy to do commercials for…

S: Oh god, him and Swindle, doing something together.

O: Oh god, oh god, yes please--someone write this? [laughs]

S: Like, Swindle’s a perfectly good sell guy by himself but I mean, you want an infomercial…

O: Give him the power--uh, giving them the power of Powerglide’s voice?  Oh yes, they would sell so much shit!

S:  Oh god, I'm just imagining the robot infomercials now.  Shamwow, Oxyclean...

O: [laughs] Shamwow, now--now sponsored by the Auto--the Autobots!  Shamwow! [continues laughing while Specs speaks]

S: God, there’d be some sort of Powerglide pun in there somewhere.

O: Ugh, you know it would.

S: [sighs] And then well--uh, so back on topic, Powerglide does indeed chase the pteranodon off but it drops Bumblebee whose jetpack is no longer functioning properly like, it's super beat all to hell.

O: Uh, yeah after you know, being picked up by a pteranodon. Bee does eventually land safely with the help of a palm tree cushioning his impact.

S: It’s a thing, it’s a thing.  And okay, I figured out where Powerglide put his stats.  He clearly blasts Bee’s jetpack with some sort of ray of healing from his forehead, so magic?  Like--he's like, the world's shittiest wizard.

O: Oh god. [laughs] I don't want to think about him being a wizard.  He’s like, one of the flim-flam man if he is a freaking wizard.

S: [groans]

O: Yeah!  I'm right!  I'm right, and should say it!

S: Yeah.

O: [laughs] Anyway, Bumblebee explores the immediate area on, uh, the island that they have crash-landed on.

S: There are a fuckton of dinosaurs here and Bee is promptly attacked by a t-rex.

O: To which, he runs back to Powerglide and sort of jerks him--him by the arm in the direction that the t-rex is now chasing him.

S: Or is coming from, yeah.

O: Is com--yeah, like that the t-rex that is chasing him is coming from.

S: It's like, “Here, here look at this thing it wants to eat me!”

O: [laughs] “Save me!”

S: “Do--do the thing, kick its ass!”

O: Uh, Powerglide transforms and Bee hangs a ride by grabbing on top of uh, Powerglide’s plane mode and they fly off.  It looks very uncomfortable.

S: Yeah. Honestly, it's probably messing with Powerglide’s you know, uh, aerodynamic surfaces but okay…

O: The power of magic robots?

S: Yeah.  Back at the Ark, Bee and Powerglide have clearly reported the living fossils they ran into to the other Autobots and there, they proceed to insult the Dinobots.  You know, like normal--which is kind of sad.

O: You're all terrible, I want you to know this.

S: Yeah...Wheeljack tries to mitigate the general air of disrespect by saying that the Dinobots have good qualities and he's been trying to teach them stuff.

O: Wheeljack is a good Dino dad.

S: Yeah, and then Huffer decides to be a dick about this statement.

O: Yep, yep, shut up Huffer.

S: Shut up Huffer.

O: [laughs]

S: Wheeljack's idea of demonstrating Grimlock’s newfound control over his powers, his--his newfound dexterity, is to have Blaster transform into his alt mode and then have Grimlock change the radio stations...with fire breath or a laser breath or however they refer to it.

O: All this seems like a terrible, terrible, terrible idea!

S: It is, like yes, you can demonstrate his dexterity some other way, dude!

O: That doesn't involve fire and possibly melting your communications officer.

S: Yeah.

O: Grimlock, to his credit does actually succeed in changing the station without incinerating Blaster, much to the chagrin of Ironhide, Trailbreaker, and Sideswipe.

S: They have no taste. They don't like any of those music. But, ah, considering it was changed to a rock station I would expect this from Ironhide and possibly Trailbreaker but Sideswipe--you're a young hip dude!

O: Sides, there is no way you don't listen to rock, I am not buying this for a single goddamn second.

S: Maybe he's more of a pop guy?

O: Oh god, now I'm just like, now I'm just imagining him doing karaoke to Britney Spears songs.

S: [laughs]

O: Thank you, thank you for that came to Britney Spears in my brain!  Just imagine him going, “Catch me baby one more time,” or whatever. [Clearly my 90’s card needs to be revoked, because it’s, “Hit me baby one more time.” ~Owls]

S: Yeah.

O: Hust mmm-mmm, perfection and you know he would do it at karaoke just to drive Prowl nuts.

S: Or maybe he likes Dolly Parton?

O: [laughing while trying to talk] JOLENE! [continues to laugh]

S: The rest of the bots and humans in the room proceed to celebrate.

O: Wheeljack in particular seems super proud of Grimlock.

S: [sighs] Of course something has to go wrong, and that thing is Slag and Sludge getting interested in what's going on and then proceeding to bump into Grimlock.  Who then begins spewing fire around the room uncontrollably.

O: I love it because Grimlock says, “Slag, Sludge, go away!  Me, Grimlock, demonstrating finesse (whatever that mean),” before immediately turning around and destroying something else with his extremely long tail.

S: Yeah...honestly the perspective on that made no sense…

O: It looked way too long.  I'm like not really sure what happened there to be honest.

S: Yeah, the situation proceeds to further unravel with the on--with the arrival of the ever curious Snarl and Swoop, who want to come and investigate all this shit.

O: Which, congrats!  You lured the first two idiots with the racket, now you've caught the other two.

S: Well, they’re five for five.

O: They are five for five!

S: The Dinobots get dangerously close to Teletraan 1 but Trailbreaker uses a shield to protect it but he like, shoots it and then it hits and sort of spreads and it's weird.

O: Yeah, not really sure how this guy's powers work.

S: Yeah.

O: We see several previously unseen Autobots who rush in to put out the room which is now on fire.  The main two we get to see are Inferno, a fire truck, and Red Alert, a fire Lamborghini. Yes really, that's what he's supposed to be.

S: Well, I suppose it was either that or a fire Datsun, or a fire Porsche, or a fire minibot.  Do you want a fire miniot? Cuz that's how you get a fire on minibot.

O: [laughs] So, I looked it up, I believe his toy is a police car version of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker’s mold and it literally was listed as like, the police version.  Um, but I'm laughing because I'm like oh no--now I'm wondering is there a police version of the Datsun or the Porsche, or the minibot?

S: Well, there could be a police version of the Lamborghini in Italy.

O: Well isn’t Prowl--what is Prowl?

S: Prowl’s a Datsun.

O: Oh, Prowl’s a Datsun...then we already had a po--we already had a police Datsun!

S: Yeah, so it's just--I don't think--cuz, like Crown Victorias were like, the main police car.

O: Oh, yeah.

S: Now there's Mustangs and stuff and I've never seen a Lamborghini.

O: Yeah, like it's just...there would never be a fire Lamborghini.

S: Well, let me look this up.  Cuz I now want to know if there's a police...no, let’s see...oh my god!  Italy's newest police car is a Lamborghini as of 2017.

O: That's still 30 years too late I'm not looking at it! [laughs]

S: Well, there could be other Lamborghinis there, but a Lamborghini makes sense for--

O: Like, Italy.

S: Yeah.  Ratchet is rather resigned to having to repair the entire room now with Sparkplug offering to help.  Well, he's also got Grapple.

O: Oh yeah, Grapple’s in here.

S: Yeah and um...shoot I forget his name...Hoist.  Grapple and Hoist.

O: The Dinobots however, continued to blunder around with Sideswipe getting the brilliant idea of fighting them to a standstill.

S: [sighs] I mean that is basically...that--that is basically his entire modus operandi.  Slamming shit until it stops being a problem.

O: True.  Uh, then the red idiot brigade rush in like well, idiots.  This being Sideswipe, Cliffjumper, and Ironhide.

S: Well, they did decide to color code their hot heads.

O: They did!  [laughs] They did!  Well, paint them all red, they're idiots.

S: Yeah, thankfully they are stopped in their tracks by Optimus Prime.  And Optimus has Grimlock bring the other Dinobots to heel.

O: He actually shows some modicum of respect and trust towards Grimlock here, wow.

S: It's an improvement.

O: Definitely is.

S: They then get the brilliant idea of sending the Dinobots to the newly discovered island.  Where they'll be less likely to break shit or at least shit the Autobots care about.

O: [laughs] Yeah, uh, cutting away we see that Ravage and Soundwave are eavesdropping on the Autobots as they exit from the side of a mountain.  Why do they even have this?

S: I guess they wanted a backdoor.  They wanted somewhere where they wouldn't be mobbed by paparazzi.

O: [snorts]

S: Except you never see the paparazzi.

O: I feel like there should be paparazzi.  I mean if giant alien robots landed on earth I feel like paparazzi would be all over that shit but--

S: Either that or someone that wants to sell magazines--we've already discussed the magazine subscription sales.

O: Yeah.  Wheeljack and Ratchet uh, being good parents actually wish their babies luck.

S: They're sending their kids off to summer camp.

O: It is kind of what it feels like, yes.

S: Yeah, I except there aren't any moderators.

O: Yup, yup, we are leaving we are leaving the babies in charge of the babies.

S: Oh god no, they're basically sending them off to…

O: Live in the woods for a week? [laughs]

S: More or less!  They're basically doing what Izumi did with the Elrics.

O: [laughs] Yep, yep, yep, that’s close.

S: Oh god, except now--now Spike hops into Powerglide, to come with them, like--

O: Why--why aren we bringing the squishy?

S: He wants to sightsee, unfortunately he didn't bring any goddamn camera.  Cuz, you know Chip would be all over this.

O: Yeah, Chip would like to see this!

S: I guess we needed a the human element.

O: Well, that human element’s gonna end up smeared across the bottom of either the organic, or the robot t-rex, I fucking guarantee it.

S: Unfortunately yeah, or he's gonna puke everywhere because you just know Powerglide's gonna pull a freaking rodeo with every goddamn ride he takes this kid on.

O: Ohhhhh yeah.  Spike does actually put on a seat belt here which is kinda new. [laughs]

S: I figure planes would have some sort of restraint device even in the 80’s, but who knows.

O: That's my guess, that's our guess anyway.

S: Soundwave comms Megatron about the mysterious island discovered by the Autobots.

O: And clearly it’s shit on Starscream hour, as Megatron insinuates at least some Decepticons don't disappoint him.

S: At some point somewhere some version of Megatron has to have, “All of you disappoint me,” mug, or something.

O: Oh my god!  Yes! Now I want that, I want a mug--I want a tiny mug of that, to hand my G1 Megatron.

S: It’s just--

O: He absolutely has that mug!  I don't know this one has that mug but one of them's got that mug!

S: Yeah.

O: Maybe Prime Megatron?

S: [snickers, following by unintelligible audio]

O: Soundwave’s like, sipping his own shit that says like, “#1 Communications Officer,” cuz he knows he ain't talking about him.

S: Yeah.

O: [laughs]

S: So Soundwave sends Laserbeak after the Autobot crew, to you know, keep tabs on them.  Like a competent communication officer does.

O: Right!  Of course, as the Autobot group gets near the island Powerglide decides to show Spike his moves.

S: I called it.  I--I freakin called it.  Powerglide just cannot resist showboating.

O: But he's a plane! [laughs]

S: Show--show-planing, show-flying?

O: Showing off! [laughs]

S: Yeah. Spike decides to name the new island and he goes with Dinobot Island cuz…

O: Who--who let the 14-year old named shit!?! Guys--guys, Powerglide, you talk all the time surely you can think of a better name than this!

S: He may not care.

O: Of course!  And I--I feel like his suggestion would be like, “Let's call it Powerglide island!”

S: Well of course!  Cuz the most important person was first on the ground!

O:  Or--but he wasn’t!  Bumblebee was!

S: Yes, but that was falling, he wasn't the first person to actually set foot on it!

O: Oh god.

S: I don’t know!  I don’t--I don’t think I care. [laughs] Ahh..

O: The Autobots land and Laserbeak lands some distance away, still keeping an eye on them cuz again, competent.  Competent soldier.

S: One of the locals attempts to buddy up to Laserbeak, but gets eye lasers for their trouble.

O:Laserbeak’s not even remotely in the vicinity of fucking around here, he's got a job to do!  Laserbeak also conveniently pulls out his camera as Spike starts going on about all the energy sources on the island.

S: He mentions an oil pit.  How is there an oil pit here?  That wouldn't be...safe? But I mean okay, they're probably talking about tar, maybe?

O: I mean like, that's what--what we assumed is that--well, at least it's what I’m assumed, they have to mean tar pit!  But I'm still not sure how that's a source of energy?

S: Well, I mean, I guess there's enough thermal energy but I don't get how they’d get it.  Who the fuck knows.

O: Or at least how would that be less difficult than like, I don't know--solar energy in the middle of the fucking ocean?

S: Or wind power--

O: Or wind power--

S: --or you know, water power.

O: --or wave power--

S: Hydrodynamics?

O: --or whatever!  A zillion other things that the Decepticons could be doing under the radar and not being caught with!

S: They’re dumb robots and it's an 80’s cartoon.  We've already had discussions about that.

O: Oh, so many.  Of course, the first thing Powerglide says uh, is that, “It's a good thing those Cons don't know about this!”

S: Well, it's already been jinxed.

O: Yep!  And not 30 seconds later Powerglide has a horrifying realization that he has lost the human.

S: He's a really bad babysitter, he can't be trusted.

O: Clearly not.  Cutting back to Spike, he is immediately picked up by a giant green dinosaur out of nowhere.

S: One that obviously doesn't have a basis in reality.  I mean it looks like a weird dragon.

O: Minus, you know, actually like, being able to breathe flame.  He is then dropped into a nest with some absurdly huge eggs like, way too big for the dinosaur that has dropped him in there.

S: Maybe it's the dad that dropped him in and the female is bigger or something.  Maybe they're like kiwis? I don't know.

O: I think you're giving this show far more credit than it deserves. [laughs]

S: Swoop comes in for the rescue.

O: That's because Swoop is a good birb!

S: Spike gets dropped off near a lake, with Swoop telling him to be careful before flying off.

O: Nessie then rises from behind Spike and grabs him in their mouth, swimming off.

S: Oh plesiosaurs,I'm surprised the Autobots didn't decide to ah, build someone based off of one…

O:  Hee, hee, hee, Paddles !

S: Powerglide and the Dinobots here Spike screaming and run over.  Except, I don't know--Powerglide flies for like two seconds--

O: [laughs] Yeah for a whole two seconds, he is extremely gung-ho for a rescue until he spots the giant water monster and then he's like, “Uh, how about you guys do it instead?” to the Dinobots.

S: Yeah.  Spike is then rescued by Sludge after Nessie drops him.  And in a blissful moment of sanity, Spike decides to return home as he is tired of being dindins.

O: Yeah, for once a competent decision was made, weird.  Laserbeak, uh, after you know, presumably getting all of this on video, returns to the Decepticon base where he displays the recorded information for Dinobot Island to the rest of the Cons.

S: Megatron, well clearly Megatron's been taking notes from his comic iteration here as his badge is bright red.

O: [laughs] For like one shot.  Megs is gunning --get it, get it, because he’s a gun?  For a takeover of Dinobot Island but Starscream, who clearly does not want to be a flying dino dinner, objects.

S: Regardless, Megatron orders an attack in some completely ridiculous, amazing, visual framing.  Megatron is just standing there, in the middle of the group, with an arm up in a victory pose, flanked by two Decepticons on either side, with Thrust (whom we haven't met yet) framed by Megatron's magnificent thighs.

O: That placement seems so, so phallic.

S: Especially considering his name.

O: Yes, but it gets worse because Thrust is one of the Coneheads which means he has you know, a pointy head.

S: Yes.

O: Which only makes this worse, or better, really, depending on how you look at it.

S: To--to clarify, Thrust is way in the background and he's not like, lying on a stomach between Megatron’s thighs--

O: No, but he's like, he looks tiny in the distance and he’s right under Megatron’s crotch!

S: Yes.

O: And I’m just like--why did you frame it like that!?!  [laughs] Back on Dinobot Island, the Dinobots are training.

S: Grimlock does not have the vocabulary for this.

O: What do you mean Specs, “Do flying stuff!” sounds plenty descriptive to me!

S: It's pretty descriptive, but it's not you know, good for specifics.

O: The Cons land, uh, Megatron being a dick to Starscream.

S: When isn't he?

O: Oh, never really.

S: And then Starscream mentions being worried about the bizarre energy waves.

O: Because you know, scientist and shit, right?

S: They actually remembered he did that.

O: Yeah, I know, right?

S: The group splits up to gather Energon from the various energy sources on the island.

O: Starscream uh, proceeds to freak the fuck out as the weather begins to de--destabilize, but Megatron just points at him and tells them to get back to work.

S: From the air--Swoop the spots the Decepticons from the air.

O: Grimlock uh, after Swoop gets back and tells them this, orders the rest of the Dinobots to attack.

S: Meanwhile, Spike and Bumblebee are coming out of a library with some lovely, lovely research in hand.  Which we couldn't read the titles of--but it made no goddamn sense.

O: It was gibberish.  Yeah like, what we could see it was just complete gibberish.

S: Yeah...

O: Suddenly, a portal opens up and some barbarians riding motherfucking mammoths come through.  I don’t know who the voice actor is here, but they are clearly just making silly noises into the mic and it is amazing. [laughs]

S: Yeah.  I don't know what time period these barbarians are supposed to be from, we a--we had a discussion, but apparently they've got some metalworking going on cuz--one of them was wearing a horned helmet.

O: Yeah, and it's just like, I don't even know, but okay?

S: Disarray ensues as giant mammoths proceed to fuck with traffic patterns.

O: Spike says that mammoths just haven't existed for, “Fifty thousand years!”

S: Oh honey, most of them didn't die out about--until about you know, ten thousand years ago.  So you're super off Spike!

O: Some of them actually survived and until longer too! [laughs]

S: Yes, but that was a very small population on a very, um…

O: Isolated island, essentially.

S: Yeah.  They probably had some issues at the end.

O: Sounds like it.  Spike and Bee escape into a dilapidated building for cover but the mammoths ram the building, and it comes down on top of the two of them.

S: Yeah, that's bad--that’s baaaad.   Back on Dinobot Island, Megatron uses some well-placed blasts from his fusion cannon to create a stampede of you know, regular dinosaurs to herd the Dinobots off a cliff.

O: The Dinobots can fly?  They literally flew earlier in this episode.  Did--did, everyone here just collectively dump that fact from their brain?

S: I mean, the robots pretty frequently forget they have abilities but at least these guys are babies, so we can kind of forgive them.  Also, they may not be able to fly and in their alt modes with the exception of Swoop, so I don't know.

O: Yeah, but I don't know why they wouldn't transform.

S: We don't know what the reaction times are when they're startled.

O: That’s true.

S: And maybe they don't want to hurt uh--uh the other dinosaurs.

O: I'd be more willing to believe that but I still think transforming and jumping up in the air would be faster.

S: It would, it would, but I don't know we're not--we don't exactly have a view into the minds of these giant robot children.  And the Dinobots unfortunately, fall into a tar pit.

O: Because of course they do!

S: Yeah. Including poor Swoop, who only fell in because Grimlock basically fell on top of him. [sighs]

O: Poor Swoop.

S: Yeah.

O: And that's where today's episode ends.  Join us next time for more time warps, cowboys, barbarians, and pirates galore!

S: Yup.

O: So, do we have some fanfic recommendations for today?

S: Yes, we have two of them.  Uh, the first is Pounce by eerien_sadow.  Uh, it's in the G1 cartoon continuity, rated K, um, it’s Gen.  There aren't any pairings and the characters are Swoop and an unnamed Decepticon.  And the summary is: An infiltrator attempts to escape the Autobots. And I basically decided on this because Swoop, because unfortunate things happened to Swoop in this episode.

O: Poor baby.

S: And it's a oneshot, it's also very, very short um, less than 600 words, I think?  So it's a nice little bite. And uh, second recommendation is Wild Man's World by Harpokrates. It’s in the Transformers’ War for Cybertron continuity, it's rated K, Gen--even though it was written for a rare pair bingo.  There is no overt shipping or anything. The closest you get to it is someone giving someone else a bouquet of crystals and that's more, “I would like you to feel better,” than anything else, so yeah.  There's no pairings, our characters are Perceptor, Grimlock, Ratchet and Slug.

And in summary: They made it off of Cybertron but that doesn't mean all of their problems are solved.  Preceptor juggles morals, obligations, Insecticons, and Grimlock. And well, I picked this one because it's got Grimlock in it, but it also has the rest of the Dinobots which I thought the way--the way--the way they're handled is pretty different from you know G1 but I liked it.

O: So uh, if you're not aware uh, War for Cybertron is a PlayStation 3 game.  The continuity--it's technically in the Aligned continuity which is technically supposed to like, encapsulate the video-- the War for Cybertron/Fall of Cybertron, Prime, and Robots in Disguise, and Rescue Bots.  But I feel like the video games feel pretty distinct. Uh, but so, the way they handle the Dinobots in the game is pretty different and the Dinobots never show up in Prime or Robots in Disguise, really so...

S: Well, they do have Grimlock in Robots in Disguise

O: It's not the same Grimlock.

S: Yeah.

O: It's not the same Grimlock, which is this whole other kettle of fish.  So--it--it--they definitely are handled differently because in the game they were normal Autobots that were captured by uh--

B: Shockwave.

O: And his experimented on.

S: Okay, yeah, this deals pretty heavily with the aftermath of the experimentation at least on Grimlock.

O: Yeah, yeah, cuz basically--they did not have dinosaur alt modes before Shockwave got ahold of them.  And whatever Shockwave had done had really, really fucked with Grimlock’s mind.

S: Yeah.  As will be very, very evident if you read this.  Which it was good I reckon--I definitely recommend it, and yeah, it's--it's what you haven't read yet.

O: Yeah, I need to read this one cuz I actually--I really--I'm very fond of Perceptor anyway so...

S: Yeah, and I mean, you've actually played War for Cybertron, which I haven't.

O: I keep thinking I should play it while you're over or something cuz I do think you would enjoy the plot, but it's a first-person shooter so I'm not sure how interesting it is to watch.

S: It's--they might have had it available on computer at some point?

O: They did originally, but because the copyright--

S: Oh, yeah--

O: --they, uh.  Was it EA? Whatever company had it lost the copyright.

S: Yeah.

O: Um, so they pulled the digital releases.  Now the only way to get it is a hard--is a hard copy, and the only hard copies I could find were on PlayStation.

[Happily, it appears I may be wrong about this for War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron!  Even thought it’s delisted on Steam I could still find downloadable copies available on Amazon for the PC, and the Steam codes they give you still work in Steam. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be the case with Devastation, which was my favorite out of the 3 more recent games. D: ~Owls]

S: Yeah, which I mean, I guess, I could theoretically get a PS--actually I want a PS4 I guess, because I kind of want to get the new Spider-man game.

O: Yeah, you can't play PS3 games on it.

S: Oh.

O: It's--they’re not backwards compatible, that's why I have both.

S: I hate that.

O: I know, I know, I feel ya!

S: Okay, let's get back on topic.

O: Sorry! ~Tangent!~

S: And I believe we have art recommendations.

O: So for fanart today we have Misaki, who does a variety [of art]--I've seen Animated, IDW, some Beast Wars stuff.  They have a very simple, cute style there's a lot of Animated art or characters done in the style of Transformers Animated.  Uh, they've also been doing quite a bit of TMNT stuff as of the time I uh, took my notes for this. Uh, oday we have linked a Transformers Animated style Dinobot, a neat looking Soundwave, and Rodimus not wanting to work.

S: He wants to play hooky.

O: He does, its Rodimus.  Hooky is like, his default state of being.

S: [chuckles] And that just about wraps it up for us today!  Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as a Afterspark-Podcast, for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word) and various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast such as a AO3, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and YouTube just to name a few.  Till next time, I'm Specs!

O: And I'm Owls!

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music]