Serpent's Eye:

THE KEY TO VECTOR SIGMA

Part Two

Review by Raksha

To start with, a correction from Part 1: as was pointed out to me, the snide line "So much for your security, Prowl," was indeed spoken by Smokescreen and not by Prime. Prime has, however, been unkind to his followers on other occasions, and it's still interesting to see snappish remarks going back and forth among Autobots, where it's apparently "okay" – but let similar exchanges happen among Decepticons, and it's "evidence" for their lack of team spirit. Go figure....

But, on with Part 2 ... at the very start, will wonders never cease – Prime actually picks up a welding torch and does some actual work. (boggle) Though it seems he's just adding the finishing touches to Silverbolt's alt mode, since the jet is very much complete already at that stage.

More nuances to ponder: Alpha Trion says he's a "first generation product" of Vector Sigma. Since this gives him the ability to merge his life-force with VS, an ability that Megatron apparently did not have (plus, he is a great deal older than Megatron), the term "first-generation product" apparently means a member of the first wave of Transformers created by this supercomputer – as opposed to simply being a direct creation, as Megatron himself is as well. (And as are the Stunticons and Aerialbots, and some others, one might presume.) I suppose one could imagine that a second-generation product is a robot who was created by a direct-creation of VS, but I'd call that a private creation and not a once-removed creation of Vector Sigma. Later-generation products of VS, then, must have been the next waves of robots who were given life.

As Prime tries to stop Alpha Trion from merging with VS, I was vaguely amused by A3's admonition to Prime: "Have you forgotten that you are my creation, Prime?" In other words, "Don't order your dad around!" However, Prime is not in fact Alpha Trion's "genetic" son, since Orion Pax was not Alpha Trion's creation, so it's a bit of a stretch to call them creator and creation. (I wonder how Orion's parents feel about getting the short shrift like that....) It's accurate, however, to say that Alpha Trion was the creator of Prime's current identity.

Alpha Trion says, "You need these planes – you may not get off this planet alive without them." A tribute to Shockwave's excellent sentry forces.

Vector Sigma sounds just as pissed-off upon its second reactivation as it did during its first. "Who reactivates me?" it snarls. Moody thing....

Notice that even mechanical beings like the Transformers make the distinction between "machines" and living things. Prime refers to the lifeless Aerialbot forms as machines twice, and demands that they be given life. He makes a nice little speech about letting them "grow in knowledge and wisdom," etc., which sounds all well and wonderful on the surface – but he said nothing about loyalty, respect, and faction ideals. This will come back to haunt him later. Megatron was, once again, the wiser leader.

The Aerialbot introduction contrasts noticeably with the Stunticons. Several are tentative and timid, several seem almost disinterested, and only one shows any sort of forceful personality:

Silverbolt is hesitant and unsure of himself: "I think I'm Silverbolt?" (And this guy is going to be the team leader??)

Air Raid says simply, "And I'm Air Raid." Nothing hesitant about it, nothing timid, simply factual and straightforward and with a hint of challenge.

Fireflight is a distractible daydreamer who almost forgets to introduce himself entirely.

Skydive only says, "I'm Skydive" – a mild, bland, vaguely friendly tone, but little else.

Slingshot shows the only really eye-catching personality, though he wastes no time bragging about his abilities.

Not a one of them says anything about dedication to their cause or to their leader. Prime doesn't seem hugely impressed either, as he turns right around after the intro and curtly orders the return to Earth.

Alpha Trion presumably knew his consciousness would merge with Vector Sigma and not be lost (though it seemed to take him a while to rewrite the computer's code and assert himself as the dominant voice). Seeing as Vector Sigma is now suffering from A3-contamination, it has become useless to the Decepticons unless it can be purged. An Alpha-Trion-controlled Vector Sigma is unlikely to ever again give new Decepticons life.

And Shockwave sees all. The guy in charge of all of Cybertron has no hesitation about getting down into the depths and doing the work himself. Despite Megatron's explosive traps and guidance of the centurion droids, Shockwave wanted to make very sure to find out if the Autobots had survived, and if so, what they were up to. He dutifully reports back to Megatron, including the information about the Key's power.

Back on Earth, the Stunticons have successfully obtained the superfuel formula which eluded the Decepticons at the beginning of Part 1. They had a great first mission right from the start.

Prime admits to the Aerialbots that he and his elite forces abandoned Cybertron because conditions got too hot for them, essentially. Not a whole lot of loyalty toward his home planet, or those Autobots who remain there. (Contrast this with Megatron, whose every action serves to restore and revitalize Cybertron.) I suspect Prime only calls Earth "our new home" because that's where Megatron happens to be stationed at the time. He'd say the same of any other world too. It's not about protecting any one specific planet – it's about his vendetta against Megatron.

At the military base, it's amusing to see Prime deferring so submissively to the human general: "Roger, we're staying back."

Slingshot actually has the right idea from the start as he pegs the humans as "bird-brains."

As the Stunticons arrive, there's a great move by Motormaster as he's slammed into by Slingshot(?) from the air. Using the momentum to leap and transform, landing on his feet, he launches himself, jumps atop his attacker, and starts pounding the tinsel out of him. A fantastic scene!

Megatron calls the Stunticons back from the human base ("I gave no orders to attack!"), indicating they went off on their own and attacked the Autobots on their own initiative. Admirable – but they also immediately obeyed Megatron's recall order.

Making Silverbolt the Aerialbot leader to take his mind off his fear of heights, was actually a smart and unusually insightful move by Prime – the only one I can immediately recall. Seeing as, in that group of losers and hotheads, no one really stood out as a leadership figure anyway, one was probably as good as any other – with the exception of Slingshot, who was simply too impulsive. So making Silverbolt the leader, had an effective positive purpose. It's an interesting contrast, yet again, to the Stunticons, where Motormaster automatically assumed his role without prompting or assignment – not for reasons of ego, but simply because he was naturally suited to it. Never once does Megatron assign him the position – at least, not that we saw on-screen – but I suspect Megatron simply stood back and let the most qualified rise to the forefront.

Nice to see Megatron and Soundwave working together on the scientific puzzle of the Key.

I must once again agree with Slingshot's evaluation: "Humans are a waste of time, and these guys (the Autobots) aren't much better."

Three of the Aerialbots discretely turn their heads aside and smile condescendingly as Ironhide threatens to "reprogram some humility into you with my fist." That made me smile, too.

The one time in the whole series where I wanted to reach into the television and give Megatron a good swat was when he called Soundwave a "clumsy fool." You notice, however, that Soundwave didn't seem the least bit bothered by it (imagine Starscream's response to the same words). I even suspect, had one confronted Megatron with the incident afterwards, he'd barely have remembered saying it. I guess not even Megatron is perfect all the time; I'm sure we've all snapped at a friend with something we didn't mean, when stressed or impatient. We can hope that true friends don't hold it against us for long.

Megatron shows his regard for Cybertron yet again: "I have the power to transform Earth into another Cybertron." He wastes no time getting started. (See also "City of Steel" for a similar initiative.)

The mystery of the Key remains unsolved, and is fanfic fodder to this day: why would this object have the power to turn matter to metal on Earth, but not on Cybertron? Perhaps the deciding factor is being away from Cybertron, a certain distance away from its controlling source, Vector Sigma itself. Cyberforming its surroundings is then almost a defensive response – assuming that the bearer of the Key is on an alien world in hostile territory. This may tie in somehow with Jhiaxus' G2 Decepticons and their Cyberforming activities. (Wouldn't it be interesting if, during their studies, Megatron and Soundwave surreptitiously made a copy of the Key, and it later ended up in Jhiaxus' hands? Or there's another set of Keys out there? Alpha Trion did say that it was a key, not the key. Hmm....)

Presumably, Cyberforming Earth would make it eligible to join the Decepticon empire alongside Cybertron. Otherwise Earth is just a source of energy and a "wretched planet." That may be part of Megatron's great enthusiasm in going about the process – a second worthy planet to add to his crown. He may also want some payback for the natives who sided with the Autobots, to teach the arrogant flesh-creatures a lesson.

Another great line from Slingshot: "Prime's as stupid as those humans." Megatron really missed an opportunity in "War Dawn." Slingshot might've had potential.

I love seeing the Stunticons just barrel right through a whole line of Autobots, including Prime.

Another absolutely wonderful scene – Prime's in truck mode roaring right toward Megatron (who for his part is busy metalizing the landscape) – and Motormaster races to the rescue, slamming into Prime from the side and throwing him completely off course. Gotta love Motormaster!

And a nice follow-up by Dead End on Motormaster's attack. Then the whole group converges. Great teamwork by the Stunticons!

Upon my first viewing of this episode, I was genuinely surprised to see the Stunticons combine into Menasor. I wasn't expecting it at all. It was a real "Oh wow!" moment. (A side note, and a personal pet peeve: it really is spelled Menasor, and not Menasaur! Big difference in the implications.)

Prime apparently was surprised also, as were the Aerialbots. This indicates that while Prime had had combiner tech installed into the Aerialbots, he had no idea Megatron had done the same with the Stunticons. I assume Prime meant for Superion to be a counterpoint to Devastator.

Megatron is genuinely shocked to see Superion. It's clear the Autobots stole the combiner technology that was developed by the Decepticons – something that Megatron had thought to be well-guarded. Precisely when this happened, we don't know, but it was presumably shortly before the events of this episode. (This, incidentally, would also make an interesting point to explore in fanfic.) In fact, the Autobots stole a great deal of the Decepticons' innovations; cassette technology comes to mind as well....

Superion has a surprisingly whiney voice for such a huge guy. But then, the toy is pretty spindly too.

Menasor is clearly the superior fighter. It takes the typical rotten Autobot fighting tactic of double-teaming him, with the untimely arrival of Omega Supreme, to put Menasor at a disadvantage. None the less he seems ready and willing to fight on, but Megatron isn't willing to risk his new warriors against such odds. As so often, Megatron pulls them back out of harm's way and orders them to disengage. The Stunticons once again follow Megatron's orders without complaint or hesitation.

With the Key to Vector Sigma destroyed, its metalizing effects reverse themselves. Interesting.

Summary:

Part 2 is not nearly as heavy-hitting an episode as Part 1, having decidedly fewer great Decepticon scenes - but it does conclude the story nicely and brings the new teams skillfully into focus. It's full of subtle psychology among Silverbolt, Prime, and the Aerialbots, and I appreciated this if only for its cleverness and sophisticated writing, though the characters themselves are fairly uninteresting to me. More significantly, Part 2 highlights the difference in team dynamics between the Stunticons and Aerialbots. The Stunticons are focused, efficient, loyal, obedient, and work very much as a coordinated group; the Aerialbots are by turns arrogant or timid, contentious, disrespectful, and squabble among themselves and the other Autobots. And then some laughable tech spec or TF Universe write-up claims there are problems with Menasor because the other Stunticons all hate Motormaster??! There's no hint of any such thing in any episode that features these characters. If anything, we see precisely the opposite. The pattern is set up beautifully in the origin story, and never wavers.

The only complaint I had with this episode (the two parts taken together), was that Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker were nowhere to be seen. Looking back now, I guess I can understand how Starscream might have been a little disruptive and shifted the focus away from the new characters; but I'd still have liked to see him, and missed him terribly during my first viewing of this episode, way back in 1985. That minor gripe aside, "The Key to Vector Sigma" in its entirety, ranks as one of the very best.

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