Black Friday (episode)



Blackarachnia enlists Prometheus Black, a.k.a. Meltdown, to aid her with a dangerous experiment, while Optimus and Dinobot Grimlock are forced to team up to stop them.


 * German title: "Schwarzer Freitag" ("Black Friday")

Summary
Sari is growing ever more frustrated by Porter C. Powell's callous actions towards both herself and her father, and she wants payback. She and Bumblebee visit the maximum-security prison that is the current abode of Prometheus Black, a.k.a. Meltdown, and speak to him in the undissolvable crystalline cube that is his cell. Black sarcastically welcomes them, noting that he has ever so few visitors, and Sari snarks in return that he'd probably have more friends if he wasn't always trying to mutate other people into transformational experiments. Sari knows that Black and Powell had once been business partners, and she asks the acidic villain for any information that would help her expose Powell as a criminal. Black asks why he should help her at all, and Sari reminds him that his own misfortunes began with the breakdown of his business partnership with Powell. Meltdown replies—with apparently genuine regret—that Powell was far too canny a businessman ever to get his fingerprints on anything truly illegal. He presents a different plan: If Sari and Bumblebee would be so kind as to break him out of prison, he would happily kill Powell himself. A bit taken aback, Sari insists she isn't willing to go that far, and she and Bumblebee depart. Later that night, however, a massive explosion signifies a break-in at the prison. At first, Meltdown confidently welcomes his visitors, assuming Sari has had a change of heart, but that confidence turns to fear when he sees he is actually being visited by the Dinobots. Grimlock cryptically announces that "she" wants to see Meltdown. Though still afraid of his former flunkies, Meltdown tries to warn them away, pointing out that a prison cell constructed to hold him is indestructible—nothing can get out or in. That won't be a problem for the Dinobots; if they can't break the box, they'll just take it!

Meltdown soon finds himself transported to Dinobot Island, where the Dinobots are behaving very strangely indeed, chanting and bowing towards a high hill. The object of their interest soon is revealed to be Blackarachnia, who washed up on the island after the recent defeat of Megatron and has since used her beauty and wily ways to captivate the simple-minded Dinobots. As she explored the island, she found Meltdown's subterranean lab complex, including his computer files on genetic manipulation. She insists that Black help her purge the organic material from her body, and since she has just drained Grimlock, becoming powerful enough to crack open his supposedly indestructible prison cell with the bonus of the Dinobots being quite willing to follow any command, Black has no choice but to agree.

Back on the mainland, Captain Fanzone and the Detroit P.D. are investigating the prison break. Porter C. Powell arrives, very agitated by the escape of his evil former associate. He produces security camera footage of Sari's visit, accusing the girl of trying to have him killed. Fanzone asks just how he got his hands on that footage, but Powell becomes more evasive. When the Autobots magnify the camera footage, they can see the Dinobots reflected on the surface of Meltdown's cube. While they ponder what to do about this, Bumblebee's constant chattering begins to wear on Prowl, who boldly insists that it is impossible for Bumblebee to remain silent for more than a few cycles. Bumblebee is angered by these doubts against him and tries to show how quiet he can be...which isn't at all, since he pipes in with a self-defense or denial every few moments. Prowl bets a case of axle grease that he can't keep quiet for ten cycles. This bickering continues as 'Bee, Prowl, and Optimus Prime head to Dinobot Island.

Once they arrive, the Autobots split up to search for evidence. Prowl finds more of Meltdown's burnt footprints, as well as yet more proof that Bumblebee really can't pipe down, since he keeps calling Prowl's name. But when Prowl investigates, he sees Bumblebee had good reason to yell: He's caught in a giant web and deactivated. Shortly thereafter, Blackarachnia attacks Prowl and deactivates him too. Rushing to help, Optimus attempts to confront Blackarachnia, but she is able to flatter and cajole Grimlock into defending her (and soundly walloping Optimus). There's no time for a real fight, though, as Blackarachnia has loaded up both Prowl and Bumblebee with a potentially lethal dose of her cybervenom. They will die unless she administers the antidote within 2 megacycles, and she'll only do that if Optimus helps Grimlock locate Meltdown's genetic modifier to make the experiment work.

Returning to the mainland, Optimus and Grimlock attempt to work together, but it's difficult because Grimlock simply will not hear that Blackarachnia might be using him or would in any way be deceiving him. For his part, Grimlock doesn't want to work with "puny" Optimus, but has no choice, as only Optimus knows where Meltdown's original workshop had been. They find the workshop, untouched and in the same state of disrepair as when Black had his drastic accident. As they search for the genetic modifier, they are discovered by Porter C. Powell, who owns the facilities Black had been using before his accident. He orders them to leave and won't assist them in finding the device they need, but he changes his tune after Optimus has Grimlock snatch up the little man and imprison him inside his mouth for a while. The unlikely Autobot duo retrieves the genetic modifier and heads back to the island.

Once he has the necessary tools and Blackarachnia strapped down to his lab table (for her own safety, of course, he swears), Meltdown decides to change his lab procedure ever so slightly. Reminding his captor-turned-prisoner of his longstanding hatred of robots, he will still be genetically separating Blackarachnia's organic and mechanical elements...but now the mechanical will be discarded and only the organics left behind, and his goal of having created a purely organic transforming being will have been realized. Optimus and Grimlock attempt to stop Meltdown, but he summons reinforcements: his earlier mutant creations, who appear quite a bit stronger now and manage to force the robots outside the lab and battle them fairly evenly. Things aren't helped when Grimlock, in his shortsighted fury, ignores Optimus's warnings and uses his flaming sword so carelessly that it practically burns down the entire island. The tide finally turns with the arrival of the other two Dinobots. Swoop lifts one of the mutants completely clear of the battlefield, keeping it from attacking further, while Snarl pounds the other senseless with his giant, flaming cudgel.

Optimus extinguishes the flames, then races back into the lab. He manages to detach the genetic modifier from the lab equipment, stopping the procedure before Blackarachnia can be divided up. An enraged Meltdown attacks Optimus and begins to melt his chest armor, but during the course of the action, Meltdown's body surface comes into contact with the genetic modifier. It unleashes a massive dose of energy into him, apparently causing his body to lose cohesion and degenerate into a pure liquid state, oozing out of his containment suit and leaking through cracks in the floor. Optimus frees Blackarachnia from her bonds on the table, and she senses an easy way to escape: Feigning weakness, she asks Optimus to come closer and hold her tight...as Grimlock is watching. His predictable jealousy makes him attack Optimus once again, and the sneaky spider manages to escape. When he finally sees she is gone, Grimlock begs her to return and professes his love for her, but it is too late.

A despairing Optimus returns to the web-covered bodies of Prowl and Bumblebee in the forest, apologizing to them that he was unable to rescue them in time. Then he notices the antidote has been placed right next to them. He quickly administers it just in the nick of time. Bumblebee notes with pride that he did indeed manage to remain totally silent for the whole 2 megacycles. When Prowl protests that it doesn't really count because he was unconscious and paralyzed, they have a rousing argument about the nature of the rules of their bet. An enraged Powell demands that Fanzone arrest Optimus Prime for assault and theft, but Fanzone says he's more inclined to arrest Powell for being a public nuisance and walks off. Optimus Prime begins to wonder if maybe, underneath it all, there is some good left in Blackarachnia, since (apparently) she did leave the antidote for him.

Later, in the island's abandoned underground lab, puddles of nasty-looking acidic goo begin to coalesce together around an empty containment suit. As the merging lump grows bigger, a familiar face appears on its surface. You can't keep a bad guy down....

Stats

 * Written by: Rich Fogel
 * Directed by: Irineo Maramba & Kentaro Mizuno
 * Original airdate: June 4, 2008 (UK)

Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes
"I lose more furniture that way..."
 * Meltdown after he (intentionally) melts the bed.

[Grimlock smashes a car, setting it aflame and causing humans to flee in panic] Grimlock: You see puny humans run! Dinobots RULE!

[Optimus lassoes him]

Optimus Prime: We're not here to scare people! We're here to get Meltdown's genetic modifier. Maybe you'd be less conspicuous in robot mode.

Grimlock: Okay... [transforms] But me Grimlock still taller than YOU. That why Spider-Lady like me Grimlock best.
 * —Pissing contest, Transformer-style.

Optimus: Grimlock, as soon as she gets that genetic modifier, she'll drop us like a used engine block. Grimlock: Autobot bad. Me Grimlock go alone! [Grimlock walks away down an alley, then comes back] Grimlock: Uh...where me Grimlock find genetic thingy? Optimus: Oh, come on. I know who can get it. Grimlock: Me Grimlock go with you....but me Grimlock go with you ALONE!
 * —Grimlock shows Optimus Prime what's what.

Grimlock: Uh, me Grimlock not supposed to scare puny humans. Optimus: This one you can scare all you want. Grimlock: THEN GIVE US THINGY! NOW!!! [transforms into beast mode, then grabs Powell with his mouth] Powell: What thingy?! What's he talking about?! Optimus: Prometheus Black's genetic modifier? Powell: Never heard of it. Optimus: Did I mention that my partner is awfully hungry? [Grimlock throws Powell into the air and catches him in his mouth] Powell: Y-you can have it! I know where it is! Optimus: I knew you'd see reason. [Grimlock spits Powell out of his mouth]
 * After months of utter dickishness, Porter C. Powell finally ends up where he belongsGrimlock's mouth.

Powell: Don't touch anything! Since he went bankrupt, technically, all this belongs to me. [Grimlock falls and breaks everything] Grimlock: [points at Optimus] Him did it.
 * Like a toddler, Grimlock blames Optimus for everything.

"NOOO!!! SPIDER-LADY COME BACK!!! ME GRIMLOCK LOVE YOU!!!"
 * Grimlock swears his loyalty and affection to Blackarachnia.

[Prowl and Bumblebee wake up after being cured by Blackarachnia's venom] Bumblebee: Uhh...how long have we been here? Optimus: Almost two mega-cycles. Bumblebee: Ha! And you said I couldn't go ten cycles without talking! Prowl: Mmm-hmm, all it took was being paralyzed. Bumblebee: What, you're making new rules now? I don't think so! Pay up with that sweet axle grease.
 * Prowl and Bumblebee debate the rules of their bet.

Animation errors

 * When Meltdown gets his face and hands "splattered" against the wall in his cell, his hands ooze out, despite his gloves being closed.
 * When the Dinobots are arguing amongst themselves, Snarl's face briefly loses its red, and Swoop is shown in his beast mode.

Transformers references

 * Blackarachnia references the defeat of Megatron in "Megatron Rising - Part 2".

Real-world references

 * The title is a reference to the day after Thanksgiving, a traditionally busy shopping day in the U.S., on which Hasbro often releases exclusives.
 * Grimlock's groaning cry of "Fire Bad" is a reference to the Tarzan-Tonto-Frankenstein's Monster sketches from Saturday Night Live. At one of the voice actor panels at, Botcon 2008, David Kaye mentioned that he'd specifically been directed to insert elements of the SNL Frankenstein's Monster into his Grimlock performance.
 * Grimlock uses some T-Rex sound effect from the movie Jurassic Park when he "eats" Porter C. Powell.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Bulkhead and Ratchet appear, but do not speak.
 * This episode showcases a detailed transformation for Optimus Prime, Prowl and Bumblebee.
 * Optimus states that Prowl knows Dinobot Island like the back of his hand and tells Prowl and Bumblebee to come with him, yet it is Bulkhead who has been on the island many times with Prowl. Maybe Optimus wants to see who wins the bet?
 * In some shots, the button that makes Grimlock's toy chomp its jaws can be seen on his neck.
 * It appears to be common knowledge that Porter C. Powell was Prometheus Black's business partner, yet in "Blast from the Past", he is seen among the group that witnesses the showing of the Dinobots, implying that he is working for Sumdac Systems at this point. Why would Isaac Sumdac hire the former partner of his bitterest corporate rival? (May he holds no grudges)
 * Grimlock states that Autobots are bad. Perhaps Grimlock is forgetting that he's an Autobot? Grimlock isn't that smart.
 * According to Grimlock, Dinobots rule. We already knew that.
 * This is the second Transformers episode where a voice actor spends most of it arguing with himself.
 * Colossus Rhodes is decidedly absent from this episode, despite being arrested with Meltdown. Maybe he got a cushy job in the prison library?
 * This is the second episode to include Meltdown's bat/human and shark/human hybrid experiments.
 * So, why was Powell watching Meltdown? Expecting revenge from his former client? Was he monitoring Sari?
 * It seems like the DPD finally built a cell for Meltdown. Maybe they finally learned from his previous escape how to contain him.