[REVIEW, Spoilers] Transformers: Heroes/Rollout

[GabrielsThoughts]

Gabriel R Lopez
TV REVIEW: Transformers: Heroes/Rollout
January 7, 2008

Franchises tend to grow and develop over time with subtle changes in the storyline or an entire re-imagining of the series entirely. In this way  Transformers is no different than Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Thundercats, or any number of animated series that wants to remain contemporary in a world that is constantly changing.  Transformers has boldly decided to take a step backwards by revisiting what made the series popular in the first place and throwing something new into the mix.  Many transformers fans shudder at the bold direction the series is taking, without treating it as  a separate entity.

Many a  Transformers fan  has followed the struggles of the Autobots  versus the Decepticons trough its many incarnations.  In this new version, rather than incorporating the  storyline  that was used in the more recent  Hollywood  version of transformers [wherein the Allspark is the source of all life in the universe, and the Autobots are engaged in a civil war with the Decepticons, and  modern earth is the final battle ground between the forces of good and evil.] ;  a small group of transformers discover the allspark in a remote asteroid field where it was transported  a billion years ago during the final battle between the Decepticons and the Autobots. The Decepticons lost, and have apparently been wandering the cosmos in a battle cruiser led by the nefarious Megatron. All the fan favorites from previous series are there, including Black Aracnia who seems out of place in the new series.

If one were to only watch the first eight minutes  of the series it would be a real let down, the plot seems uninspired and no different than Beast Wars with a fresh coat of paint. Unfortunately, my first impression of the new transformers was that the robots look like humanoid aliens wearing body armor. In my opinion they had lost the very thing that made them machines, which contradicts the very idea of them being robots in disguise.  I was painfully reminded of the Megas S-Force, which itself was a mockery of power rangers and other Japanese sentai  shows. Simply put, the sentai plot is  a team of warriors consisting of a patriarch,  a heroic leader, a nerd, a hothead,  the big guy with the heart of gold, with an annoying kid, or nagging girlfriend to round everything off. This formula has been used successfully in American cartoons such as Gargoyles and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as well as  numerous Japanese titles such as Sailor-moon and Outlaw Star. A family unit drawn together in a struggle to battle the forces of darkness.

Now for the spoilers. While the concept behind the show isn't any more original than Power Rangers: Mystic Force, I decided to suffer through  it because of my love for the Transformers franchise  and the joy it brought into my life. I was surprised to discover the how relatively outclassed the Autobots were in comparison to the Decepticons, [it took all of the Autobots to fight  SlipStream to a draw] and I was disappointed that Megatron was so easily deceived and ultimately destroyed so early in the series. My opinion of the new series changed however after the all spark opened a rift in the space bridge, a Stargate like object used to transport  Optimus Prime, his crew of misfits, and Megatron to a small blue planet on the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Meanwhile Slipstreams' betrayal or victory over Megatron is short lived  when the other deceptions abandon ship when the galactic space bridge goes supernova.  The battle between Optimus and Megatron continues  in the doomed Autobot transport vehicle. It was a one sided battle, as even in his weakened state Megatron was able toss around Optimus like a rag doll. Once again the Autobots are severely outclassed, Optimus deactivates the artificial gravity with his grappling hook that He and Megatron are more or less on equal footing. Equal meaning they were all floating freely in open space, but in terms of raw power Megatron was like the Megas  and the Autobots were like the easily defeated Glotft mecha. Once the Autobot  ship enters Earths gravity, all bets are off, Megatron's heavy foot pins Optimus to the ground, and just as he gets ready to destroy Optimus, the allspark decides to help out ... by opening the docking bay doors and depressurizing the ship. Megatron is the only one sucked through the open hatch.  Megatron falls to earth on a remote farm in India somewhere as the Autobots rush into their stasis pods and their ship crashes into Lake Eerie near Detroit city.

Fifty years later, in Detroit  Michigan,  Dr. Somdek an Indian who immigrated to the United States, a genius who is coincidently the world authority on automated systems and his first generation American daughter Sari, a poor little rich girl with no friends except for her dog, an Aibo named Sparkplug. Sari is a redhead with pigtails and wears a keycard around her neck.

Sari is a bratty know-it-all kid from Detroit who likes to chew bubble gum, and make trouble. When one of her fathers experiments mutates a normal cockroach into an unstoppable Cloverfeild monster  it goes without saying the earth is doomed  with a capital "D."  Fortunately, one of the exploding bits of cockroach goo gets inside the Autobot ship and inadvertently awakens the team in stasis... seeing that the earth was in danger from the Regis 2.0  they scan local vehicles and transform. Bumblebee, transforms into a sporty yellow Taxi...I mean unrealistically yellow police vehicle with a racing stripe.

Sari is busily wrestling with her rog  sparkplug, with whom she  is playing tug of war with her cyber key. Early on the robots mistake her  for Sparkplug's pet, but dismiss the idea when they realized how small Sari's Aibo is in comparison to her.  One of the robots in vehicle mode asks Sari if she's okay and the girl screams in terror. Bubmble bee makes the first humorous remark in the entire series "Careful, it seems to be equipped with a  high frequency sonic weapon." just before Sari is snared by one of the  Cockroach tentacles...you heard me the mutant cockroach has tentacles, and Sari continues to scream in terror until she is rescued by Bumblebee. The Autobots destroy the monster  but Prowl was mortally wounded .  With a heavy heart they return to the ship...Bumblebee hiding Sari, because he wants to keep her as a pet. Sari stumbles upon the Allspark which downloads the history of the Autobots into Sari's brain and transforms her cyber key into a spark generator which she uses to repair or restore prowl to perfect health.

Meanwhile Slipstream detects an energy signature and comes to earth  and captures Sari's  father, the mayor, and in the new prototype of bullet train that can go 3000 miles an hour. Bumblebee is quickly deactivated and becomes one of  Slipstream's hostages.  Slipstream  agrees to release the hostages in exchange for the Allspark, which he will use to become the new leader of the Decepticons. Fearing for her fathers life and the life of her new B.F.F. Bumblebee Sari comes up with a plan that is immediately dismissed , and appropriately so considering Sari can't be older than twelve. But in the end Sari's plan seems to be the most intelligent one, as the Autobots are incapable of intelligent thought greater than that of a twelve year old themselves. Using the Allspark to lure Slipstream away from the hostages while Sari uses her cyber key to reactivate Bumblebee.

Once again a one sided battle ensues, as Slipstream [like Megatron] proves to be ten times more powerful than the Autobots. This proves to be a big disadvantage for the Autobots, who must use their brains to defeat Slipstream. Slipstream wins out in the end taking the Allspark for himself and then uses it to blast a big hole in the city... which is nothing in comparison to the damage he and the other  robots had already caused to Detroit. Fortunately, the Autobots weakened  Slipstream to the point where he and Optimus were equally matched for strength .  Optimus and Slipstream wrestle each other for control of the Allspark and Optimus dies...yes, that is how it ends both Optimus and Megatron are dead. There is no reason to continue living or watch the series. But wait,*GASP* little Sari miraculously restores  Optimus  to life with her cyber key, and her father is in reality the pawn of Megatron. Dun dun dun!

It was good, but sadly it could have been better, just like the movie. As a cartoon I would put  the storyline on the same level of quality that which was present in  the movie... I'll rate Transformers: Rollout as  two and a half stars. Which is ironically better than I rate any episode of the previous series.

[Alondro]

And in the end, Megatron is defeated by the Energizer Bunny, who keeps going and going and going...

The Energizer Bunny IS THE IMMORTAL SPARK* REBORN!!!    

*See Beast Wars for reference 

[Goatmon]

I started reading this review, then all validity it may have had for me went away when you got Starscream's name wrong.

Understandable mistake, since he's only been in pretty much every incarnation of transformers ever. 

[GabrielsThoughts]

I never memorize names, especially for movies. I'm not even sure the girl's name was Sari.


EDIT:ifyou must know I had to go through the whole thing and change Autobus back to Autobots and Deceptions back into Decepticons, I hadn't thought to look for it and this is the first draft.