I shall call this gif set “first gif set ever created by robotsandramblings, please bear with me” nawh I’m calling it “Not Just Another Pretty Face”
Basically, whenever I rewatch these 2 episodes (Deus Ex Machina and TMI), Knock Out impresses the hell out of me. Why? Simply because he takes on Optimus Prime. In close range, hand-to-hand combat. I think that some people just forget these scenes exist, and to them he’s just “the sexy and kinda crazy medic who only does doctor stuff and buffers himself.” But these scenes prove that is NOT the case.
Now, I don’t want to start arguements about how good of a fighter he is or isn’t. Or how he might’ve ‘cheated’ using his prod first in “Deus Ex Machina” so it wasn’t really much of a fight. Or how he ends up getting his ass kicked in both scenes. And I’m not implying that this makes him the bravest of all the Decepticons or Autobots.
I just like to marvel in the fact that Knock Out – a doctor, who arguably would have the least developed combat skills – fights the Autobot’s leader, the best and most powerful of them all. Twice. So what if he ‘loses’ in the end? He still has the guts to take on Optimus Prime in the first place. Twice.
Not really going anywhere with this; it’s just meant to be a “Knock Out Appreciation” moment, really 🙂
We find scraplets cute because we are wired to find anything with “baby-ish” proportions cute. I would like to think that the inverse is also true and that Cybertronians find babies nightmarish because they look like scraplets.
Like hanging human baby pictures around is enough to keep the more queasy-stomached Cybertronians away.
But on the flip side some of the bots are into them just like some humans love monstrous designs or horror movies.
TFP Bumblebee has a bit of a baby face, maybe he thinks he’s intimidating because of it?
He changes his appearance sometime before RiD2015 pretty significantly, maybe to make living on Cyberton among his kind again easier? I mean it’s not just a style change between shows, the whole form is different and his head and optics are less round.
No more baby face.
This is interesting but I don’t think the writers thought it through that much.
Whereas Starscream’s problem as a leader seems to mainly be his insecurity/that he doesn’t handle setbacks very well, Megatron’s issue is that, well, he seems to see himself as the character in a story.
And he gets upset when people do things that are are dramatically inappropriate. By which I’m primarily referring to how he’s apparently the only one who can kill Optimus Prime, even if letting disease/another Decepticon kill him off would remove the proverbial thorn in his side. It’s like the war stopped being about real people and became this melodramatic legend of the rivalry between a heroic ex-gladiator and the archivist-turned-warrior who betrayed him.
I mean, I think we’re all aware of this, but I’m mostly thinking of how this attitude screws over the Decepticons because they’re not supposed to do things that would make for an unsatisfying plot.
I agree, Megatron sees himself as the rugged, Spartacus-esque hero of humble beginnings who rose against an oppressive government, only to be tragically betrayed by his closest friend. Now, he carves an unstoppable path towards his goals of victory, conquest, and (as he himself states) god-hood… all the while failing to realize he’s become infinitely more twisted than anything he ever originally fought against.
Or, he’s developed an almost Deadpool like meta-awareness that he is in fact the bad-guy in a cartoon show aimed at boys 8-13; so of course he has to beat Optimus and fuck shit up in the most brutal way possible.
I am but a soldier, Megatron… And you, are but a prisoner of your own twisted delusions…
Furthermore, I don’t think this is accidental… I think TFP likes this level of narrative and archetype critique. There’s a lot of examples of characters operating under the assumption that they play a certain role, or can force themselves into a new role without fully understanding the consequences.
Destiny’s Child here wanted to be a great warrior of destiny, and ended up being a glorified treasure chest. He only experienced success when he stopped worrying about himself/his destiny, shut-up, and started working for the good of the team.
Silas wanted to discard his humanity “walk among Titans”, and ultimately got dissected like a needle through a bug…
And then there’s Optimus Prime himself; the humble librarian who rose to the occasion to become the Last of Primes…
The greatest, most powerful, most iconic and revered robot hero alive… but do you think that makes him happy and fulfilled? What good has the title of Prime ever brought Optimus?
So, I guess the moral at the end of the day is… being a cartoon character is suffering, and be yourself!
I saw this post with a low quality gif of Knock Out’s transformation in slow motion, the gif had like over 2k notes and I thought… man… this is a crime. Knock Out deserves the absolute best, so here’s a slightly more hd clip, as well as the other two transformations from Plus One.
I’d like to redirect everyone’s attention to the way his ‘underwear part’ snaps into place, it’s amazing
Also breaking news, Knock Out has an extra pair of car nipples:
Lol this is awesome!
My animation side gotta explain that last pic tho! That split second you see the two seperate rigs at the same time because they can get away with it because of the 24 fames per second. XD
When transforming there are 2 rigs. The robot rig that begins the transformation and the vehicle that ends the transformation. The animators do their best to match up the final bits of the robot rig transforming to the car rig transforming untill they have the closest they will get to a full seamless transformation.
This is trickery of animation along with a mix of healthy motion blurr. that’s why sometimes you see double during these scenes it’s the two rigs shown at the same time for a split second between one rig phasing out and the other one taking its place. Transformers prime does this prety believably I gotta say! Most of the time it’s not too glaring or noticable. 🙂
How's it hummin'? 