Transformers Prime Beast Hunters – Chain of Command review

As last week saw the Autobots splitting into two teams and focused on Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen who all work well together, this episode focused on the other half of the group with Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Miko as this was a contrast where we see tensions within the team mainly between Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack. This has a lot to do with Wheeljack not being a team player and having problems with authority, especially with Magnus. We also get to see why Magnus is second in command to the Autobots. In the midst of this, we also see the return of Predaking who is out of his cold stasis and returning to the Decepticons. Megatron assigns Starscream to be its taskmaster, which is something Starscream isn’t too happy about. This has reduced Starscream into a comedy relief when it comes to handling Predaking.

Miko has become pretty useful to the group and does something no one would thought she’d do – she wears the Apex Armor to take on Starscream and the Decepticons, which she has no trouble but doesn’t stand a chance against Predaking. Her joining the group and wearing the armor is a nod to Verity Carlo from the comics storyline, Last Stand of The Wreckers. In a way, she is the show’s equivalent to Verity Carlo. In the end, Wheeljack leaves the group and becomes solo again mainly because of Ultra Magnus and feels that the Wreckers are not what it used to be with authority figures. Another great episode as I’m enjoying this season the most.

Teen Titans Go – Ghost Boy review

Ghost Boy was Beast Boy attempting to pull jokes on his fellow Teen Titans to get the things he wanted, but none of it worked because they know him too well except for Starfire. Beast Boy takes advantage of her naivete by pulling a prank on her by pretending he’s a ghost. However, the other Titans told Starfire the truth as this causes her to be angry so they try to pull a prank on him. Things go wrong when they followed Beast Boy to the volcano island, where they all were dead and become actual living ghosts one-by-one with Cyborg being first and Beast Boy being last. I wonder how they all get resurrected in future episodes. The reason I’m reviewing this is because they replayed the pilot episode, Legendary Sandwich, which I already reviewed. Another great episode as I like it more than the original series.

Transformers Prime Beast Hunters – Project Predacon review

After a hiatus from last month, we return with a real start to the Beast Hunters season when the Autobots are settled into their new headquarters. Optimus Prime, in his new flying form, gets a new vehicle while Ultra Magnus transforms into his old truck mode. They’ve established what Ultra Magnus is – second-in-command and leader of the Wreckers assigned by Optimus Prime. We can also see tensions between Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack. Since Optimus Prime wields an energy-sword, Ultra Magnus wields the Forge of Solus Prime without any power. It’s a nod to his Animated counterpart.

As Optimus Prime sends Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, and Wheeljack to investigate one mission, he, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen investigate another mission. The missions involve bones of the ancient Cybertronians called Predacons and shows the links between Earth and Cybertron through their pasts. This is a nod to the Jurassic Park movies, but I’m glad they’ve showed the flashbacks of the Predacons on Earth. Smokescreen gets a new color scheme because of Bumblebee. During the fight, we’ve seen why Soundwave is part of Megatron’s inner circle with cool moments in using the Ground Bridge to take the Predacon bones to Megatron.

There are funny character moments between Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus concerning Agent Fowler’s words and their meanings while Smokescreen tries to talk to Bumblebee about being a Prime. Plus, Wheeljack’s Wrecker ball has locked Agent Fowler in his office. The show now has new intro music that’s rockier and heavier. In that intro sees Optimus Prime and Predaking and I wonder if Predaking is going to be the main villain instead of Megatron. Overall, a great episode to return with.

Nikita Third Season review

The third season marks the first season without the show’s villain, Percy, who died at the end of the second season. The end of that season saw Nikita and Ryan running Division. The third season’s plot was that Division, under the leadership of Ryan and Nikita, would track down rogue agents known as the Dirty Thirty, but that they are under the command of Amanda, who is the main villain after Percy’s death.

The roles of Nikita and Amanda are reversed in that Nikita is in Division and Amanda is on the outside operating like a rogue. I’m not sure if Nikita was clicking well with Amanda like she did with Percy because she was defined by him. I truly feel that Amanda should have been Alex’s problem since Alex has dealt with Amanda almost as much as Michael has. We’ve also seen the relationship between Nikita and Michael being central than anything else as we see Michael giving her the engagement ring. They were milking this up, including Michael’s loss of his hand by Nikita and that storyline didn’t sit too well with the viewers as he got a new hand filled with nanites.

I’ve said that I disliked Nikita this season because she’s not a team player unless she was in control and what I’ve seen in the third season proved me correct in that she needs to work in a team setting after so used to being a lone wolf, which she is at heart. It’s clear she doesn’t trust anyone she works with, including Michael. There were tensions between her and Ryan because Ryan makes sound calls and Nikita isn’t getting what she wants. It’s either her way or no way at all. Division will likely continue without her.

Two people who have gone dark are Alex and Owen. Alex was controlled by Amanda to initiate a mutiny in Division and went so far as to shoot Ryan, but there were tensions between her and Nikita while Owen’s true history and colors are revealed as they both turned on the rest of the group. Only difference is that Alex has returned and Owen, now Sam, has not. The fight between Michael and Sam was culmination of distrust between them.

Birkhoff and Sonia are having a relationship as they both do similar high-tech work for Division, but there are tensions between them as well. Throughout the season, they’ve teased us with character deaths, but the one character they did killed off was Sean Pierce. He should have died last season when his mother died. His death caused Alex to go rogue and revert to her old ways briefly until Nikita got through to her.

The season ended with Amanda getting Nikita to assassinate the US President in order to save Michael, but as we saw the US President apparently killed herself only to find out that she’s alive later on. Regardless, the government is now tracking Nikita, who runs away from Michael and everyone and returns his engagement ring. This shows clearly that Nikita will never be a team player and she only got this far through the people she works with. Was this a good season? Maybe, but it’s not my favorite.

Nikita – Til Death Do Us Part review

This week has been a week of season finales and Nikita is up there with the latest episode to picks up where last episode, Invisible Hand, left off where Amanda has Nikita doing her mission to either kill the US President or her boyfriend, Michael, dies with the nanites in his new hand. This causes Nikita to isolate herself from Michael and everyone else in Division to execute Amanda’s bidding against her will, but Michael and the rest of Division have already figured out Amanda’s plan. They attempt to help Nikita find a way out of this by trying to stop Amanda while Nikita goes through her mission of assassinating the US President. When Nikita confronts the President, things didn’t turn out the way it came out and Nikita ends up taking the fall just like Amanda wanted.

If there was one thing I dislike about Nikita throughout this season, it’s that she’s not a team player unless she was in command and that’s what we got here when she’s running Division with Ryan. I don’t think Nikita has adjusted to being a team player and not realizing what roles Michael and everyone else in Division played in her life that got her this far and Amanda was pointing this out. Amanda showed why she’s second to Percy when it comes to villainy. A good end to the third season.

Teen Titans Go – Dude Relax/ Laundry Day review

I’m liking this series more so than the original in that we get to learn more about them than we did in the original, especially when it comes to Robin whom Dude Relax focuses on along with Beast Boy. We found out what makes Robin tick and his encounter with the magical couch shows his origin in the show’s continuity involving animals stealing his stuff during his baby years in the circus. As the other Teen Titans knew when and how to relax, Robin finally does it but at wrong times when they have to tangle with a monster threatening Jump City. I’m glad the producers and writers decide to address this if we are to relate to Robin from the Teen Titans.

Laundry Day is probably my favorite of the two in that it focuses on both Robin and Raven over who’s turn to do the laundry and we see Robin’s mischievous side as he manages to avoid doing the laundry as this frustrates Raven and she  always kept her emotions in check when trying to get the slime off of their costumes, but they had to go basically naked in this one. We see easter eggs such as the Brainiac suit from the Superman Animated Series. Pretty funny in seeing the Teen Titans fighting their own clothes and then having them switched, all for Raven to get Robin to do laundry. Great episodes as I’m liking it and this should convert the haters into fans.

Arrow First Season review

Looking back at the first season of the new show, Arrow, based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow Oliver Queen. The showrunners are basing this version on the Green Arrow Year One storyline from the comics and use it as their launching point where Oliver spends 5 years on the island and returns to Starling City to become the vigilante known as the hood. The version that Stephen Amell plays differently from Justin Hartley’s version from Smallville is a darker nascent version where he doesn’t go by the Green Arrow name and isn’t the hero we know him to be yet.

Oliver Queen is the main character who runs a nightclub and protects Starling City from the corrupted people who failed the city, according to the list his late father gave him. He goes after anyone in the list and that’s all it matters to him. While it was good at first for the first half of the season, it’s also getting repetitive with nothing moving forward as he was boxed in the list for awhile. He has his support team that consists of former army soldier, John Diggle, and his tech secretary, Felicity Smoak as they each serve a purpose to Oliver. Regardless of their differing methods, they all have the same goal – protect Starling City.

Dinah Laurel Lance is Oliver’s love interest who was in a relationship with his best friend, Tommy Merlyn, because of what happened to her sister, Sarah, when she went with Oliver on a yacht trip that went wrong and sent Oliver to the island. She is an attorney instead of running a flower shop like the comics. Her goal is to protect Starling City in her own way in contrast to Oliver’s methods. Out of all the characters, Dinah Laurel was the least interesting and least developed as nothing was moving forward with her. I don’t know if she’s moving forward to becoming the Black Canary and she went from Tommy to Oliver as I was concerned that it would be a repeat of Clark and Lana from Smallville. In the first few episodes, she was pretty active and now the rest of the season didn’t see her do much. However, she went from hating Oliver for her sister’s death to forgiving him.

Tommy Merlyn is the son of the show’s villain, Malcolm, and Oliver’s best friend. He was pretty interesting and became the audience viewpoint. Tommy went from carefree to being broke and making his own way in the world while he was having a relationship with Dinah Laurel. The friendship between he and Oliver took a turning point when Oliver showed Tommy his secret and things went downhill between them until the season finale, where Tommy died.

Rounding out the cast are Oliver’s mother Moira, Oliver’s sister Thea, Detective Quintum Lance, Oliver’s stepfather Walter Steele, and Roy Harper. All of these characters have moved forward in many ways in the bulk of the first season, especially Thea when she went from being antagonistic towards Oliver to finally understanding him, along with working at Dinah Laurel’s law office as an intern. Detective Lance wants to track down the vigilante and put him behind bars. Roy Harper was introduced to be Thea’s love interest and future sidekick to Oliver as their relationship is  a nod to the younger viewers. Let’s not forget Dinah Laurel’s co-worker, Joanna.

Arrow has brought in many DCU moments such as bringing in Huntress Helena Bertinelli, Slade Wilson, a Deathstroke, Deadshot, China White, Royal Flush Gang, Count Vertigo, Firebug, Fyers, Shado, Yao Fei, Ted Kord, Kord Industries, Ferris Aircraft, Brion Markov, etc. This is to show that Arrow is part of the larger universe and what characters exists in Arrow. It’s what attracts DC Comics fans like myself. Out of these DCU characters, Huntress, Slade, Shado, and Yao Fei are the ones with the substantial roles than mere guest apppearances.

The main plot of the season was Malcolm Marlyn targeting the Glades and destroying for a personal reason that bestows a villain than mere money and power. The fights between the two are the centerpiece of the first season and future seasons. I hope Malcolm is not dead like Tommy was. Malcolm showed us what he can do as the Dark Archer, who is the villainous counterpoint to Oliver’s vigilante persona.

Did the first season succeed? Of course!! It has action, adventure, suspense, surprises, and drama that a DCU-based show should have and it has successfully filled the void left by Smallville for the CW. I look forward to the second season in the Fall.