G1 Episode 76: Forever Is a Long Time Coming

Did you ever think we’d get to see Alpha Trion as a hot, young stud?  Yeah, neither did we!

Check out our Tumblr for episode notes and links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠afterspark-podcast.tumblr.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music: "Proof of Concept" and "Local Cluster" by Wintergatan

These tracks can be downloaded for free at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.wintergatan.net

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
Hello and welcome to the Upsmarkpodcast and episode abs of recap
of the Generation One Transformers cartoon.
I'm Alice. And I'm Specs.
And today we're going to be talking about Episode 76.
Forever is a long time coming. Let's talk about giant robots
today, shall we? Oh boy.
I mean it really will be. And today on Back to the Future.

(00:36):
No, wait, wrong 80S property. We begin on Cybertron with a
group of Autobots flying off towards a, you said, fairly
close asteroid belt. And rewind is both mentioned and
gets a voice line, albeit he is in cassette mode inside blaster
at you know at present time, Percy informs Blaster and there

(00:57):
were us that these asteroids aregiving off a strange energy, the
energy of time itself. I'm not sure how you measure
that, but okey dokey, anybody could do it I believe.
Percy would be able to do it. Or Wheeljack.
But we're fresh out of Wheeljack.
Wheeljack is no longer here. Sir not appearing in this season

(01:18):
at all. Our group consists of Perceptor,
Blaster, Blur, and Wreckgar, andat least a couple of Blasters
cassettes as well, though they're not even all named when
they start speaking from inside Blaster's chest.
We have barely seen these cassettes like in comparison to
sound waves. So like, you would only know who
these guys are if you've gotten the toys and some of the

(01:40):
supplemental media, but some of them haven't even really had
voice lines before. It's very confusing.
Shark decons attack the group, with Percy deducing that this
means that there's a Quintesson presence on them.
There are asteroids, and the group fights the Shark Decons,
as one might expect. Laster sends out Ramhorn and
Rewind to help with the fight ata Quintesson installation of

(02:02):
some sort on the asteroid. We get the return of our
Transformers time units with macro seconds.
Much to our hosts consternation,the Quintesson is ordering his
dudes to open a time window, butcautions that it cannot be
opened for long. It's also it's also a funky
shape. Percy is able to observe this

(02:24):
time window and further observe them using some giant claw like,
you know, one of those claw machines, and pulling something
out of the window. Well, I'm glad they could get
something out of the claw machine.
I God knows I never can. I've only managed one thing, and
that was with luck. Yeah, funky claw games.

(02:45):
We're all bad at them. Quintessa Edition.
Yeah, they have better luck thanus, those lousy quints.
Our Quintessa's grunts are none too smart, however, as they are
chasing the Autobots and shooting them inadvertently.
Also hitting the time portal. And kind of driving the Autobots
into it. The Quintesson is not pleased

(03:07):
about this, and is even less pleased when Rodimus and
Superion show up. His grunts grab him and then
manhandle him into a ship. Leave him behind the now opened
time portal. Oh, bad things.
Bad things for the universe, apparently.
Also, apparently Blur Reckard Blaster and his cassettes
disappear into the time gate, but because the gate itself is

(03:31):
layered incorrectly with the animation, it doesn't really
look like that's what's happening.
This isn't even the worst glaring issue they've ever had,
but it is very confusing. And also Percy got shot down so
he did not go on the time. He did not get to do the time
work today. He no, he he didn't get to go on
their field trip. Oh, he'd have enjoyed it, though

(03:52):
he would have. Roddy arrives to help the
injured Percy, who informs him of the other's disappearance
before losing consciousness. So Rodimus like flies past
Percy, completely overlooking him, face down on the ground.
At least initially, Yes. Yes.
The Superion lands and splits into the separate Aerial Bots,

(04:14):
and then a man, a robot man, suddenly fades into existence in
front of the Aerial Bots. I think they're implying that
this is what the Quintessa and and his crew pulled out of the
time window, but the robot man just sort of appears all of a
sudden out of nowhere. Yes, like when it's pulling
something out when you could seeit from like a distance, it is

(04:36):
pulling like a a green glowy thing.
I guess that's Dude McMahon in front of me.
And now, in the past, the Autobot crew is attacked by a
tower and a huge purple Guardianbot.
Rewind actually gets a lot of lines here.
It's probably the only time he does, yeah, yeah.

(04:59):
Through his observations, though, the others figure out
that they are in the past somehow.
Well, I mean rewinds the historian so, But we get a
commercial break just as the group is about to get squished
by the Guardian. Upon return, a lovely green
Ladybot attacks the Guardian with an exploding crossbow bolt,
alone, the group to get away, and they follow her to safety.

(05:19):
Sadly, she doesn't make any appearances in any other media,
but this is Beta. She informs the group that she
is looking for their leader, a three.
A3, as you may have predicted, is in the present or future,
depending on your perspective here.
Speaking of the presence, the Autobots group there is
concerned that the time window is still leaking energy.

(05:43):
You know, leading the bad thingsfor the universe.
Percy is also getting some much needed repairs by pipes.
The Autobots aren't the only ones worried about the time
energy leaking, as we see the Quintessen from before telling
his commander that this is bad and that they're destabilizing
the universe and in fact, time itself.

(06:03):
We fucked around and found out so badly.
And they also care because they live in this goddamn universe.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I will grant that they probably care more than, you
know, I want to everything to bedestroyed.
Galvatron. Yes, considering the man is
omnicidal. No kidding.
The bot, so on. So we see the energy flowing

(06:24):
through the universe and making weird things happen throughout,
including D aging Marissa Fairborn.
You know, it would have been interesting if they'd had.
This effects Autobot City, and then suddenly there's a bunch of
alive Autobots who were dead before.
God, that would be. That should be a fanfic idea.
That would be terrifying. Oh.
It would, or rather dark at least.

(06:46):
Sudden revival. And then they just nothing
happens when it stops. That would definitely be one way
to bring a bunch of people back to life without just kind of a
hand. WAVY explanation eh?
Yeah. Hey, it's as good as anything
else Transformers has done. It's as good as the actual time
Optimus comes back. Oh, it's better than the actual
time Optimus comes back, becausepresumably they aren't going to

(07:09):
be fucking zombies. Sorry, let's get back on track.
When the contestant started his day, it was Tuesday.
And then it was all the Tuesdays.
All at one time, forever. We're in a bagel guys, so a
three has apparently recovered in his back on his feet, and
yes, is the one that came through the portal.

(07:29):
He is a white purple in burgundybot with a tiny black porn
stash. Why does a robot have a porn
stash? It was the 80s.
They had to make him charismaticsomehow.
Did the 80s bully porn stashes made you charismatic?
I have questions. I am shrugging so much.

(07:49):
Okay, I don't know. They had to give him some sort
of visual distinction. So a Three is suspicious of
Rodham is possibly working for the Quintessence, but their
conversation is interrupted by aquintessent tech.
A3 gets thrown into space by a blast and what we're going to
lovingly call Turtle, waving hislittle legs in the air while on

(08:11):
his back position. Yeah, it looks so.
God damn awkward guys. Very silly.
And then a three is saved by Superion.
Superion is being fired on by multiple contestant ships at the
time and says it's finished. You have survived much more than
Superion. Don't be a quitter.
Look, maybe he's just had a verylong day.

(08:32):
OK, so a three turns into old man Alpha Tryon for like 5
seconds saying no you must live that I can be bored.
Is this the fault of the time ripples?
Or is this just some fucked up vision that Superion is having
and also a 3A trion? You're already alive, yeah?
Don't don't ask us how any of this works 'cause I legitimately

(08:55):
don't know if it was a vision Superion was seeing or if it's
due to the time strangeness. We did see Marissa D age, so
aging rapidly would also presumably be a thing that could
happen. Yeah, there's more time.
Reality. Madness.
I I still? Think the fucking dead or the
boss just walking out of the past and into the future would

(09:15):
have been interesting. Allah the whole stupid time
portals from Yeah, but Superion is briefly seen in two places at
once, and it isn't for once an animation era.
They actually paid attention to things somehow, and in the past.
The Autobot group is helping to distract some more Guardian bots

(09:36):
so Beta and her group can get past them, but the efforts of
the Autobots and Rebels only work to incite the Quintessence
Ire. The Quintessence Scientist
contacts the Autobots in the present and tells them that they
need to close the window, otherwise space and time will
tear itself apart. The Autobots don't exactly
believe him at first, but eventually they do begin working

(09:56):
with him. A3 volunteers to go through the
portal to retreat blaster and company.
Once back in the past, a Three is able to activate a device
that freezes all the Guardians, and he tells you know our
present day Autobots to get backto their own time.
Because a three's got the the Deus Ex Machina Guardian off

(10:18):
switch. Yes, yes.
And so Blaster, Blur Wrecker andthe cassettes managed to escape
just in the nick of time. Rewind gets to be wheelie for a
few seconds. Oh the humanity, the robot
manatee. But Rewind also manages to
convince me that he is the proudowner of the other lonely brain

(10:39):
cell bouncing around the Autobots by correctly deducing
that a three was out the try on after seeing him for like 3
seconds. However, the the other Autobots,
you know they earn our score because they seem surprised by
this information. Then we get to see a three
immortalized in the stars as ourepisode abruptly and it feels

(11:00):
very anime. It feels very like old school
anime where like you know you have the person in the distance.
And the stars watching over the present or whatever, it's yeah,
it does feel kind of like that, except with less reason.
Yes, yes, I actually agree with you there.
Like Alpha, Trion's been dead for a while.

(11:21):
I mean, considering he dies whenthe Aerial Bots are born, yes?
Or before they're born. Or technically, he just
transfers into a different stateof being, considering he joins
with the goddamn vector Sigma that we never see again.
Well, we do, and beast beast shapes.
He's suddenly female. Elfa Tryon decided to have a sex

(11:44):
change. Good for him.
Good for that, Good for her. I don't know.
I don't know. Giant glowing ball thing.
Like the giant glowing ball thing.
Be whatever gender it tells us today.
Yeah, all right, so join us nexttime for a surprise party where
Wheelie and Daniel team up to surprise Ultra, Magnuson Hijinks
and Sue, as one might expect with a child and.

(12:09):
A rhyming small child bot. Attempting to find out someone's
birthday. All right, so we have two fanfic
recommendations, one from myselfand one from Owls, so I'll go
first. The first one is Pygmalion by
Velvet Glove Velvet under score Glove.
It's AG1 cartoon continuity and rated G.

(12:33):
It's Jen. There's no pairings.
Our characters here are Alpha Trion, AKA a three.
And the quintessence. In summary, quintessence creates
woman, and I theorize on the origins of the species.
So the theme here was beta and the origins of Transformers, and
it's a one shot. And then on to elves.

(12:57):
All right, so mine for today is 1 Good thing by lush under score
specimen. The continuity is IDW.
It's rated T It is slash. It is Drift and Ratchet.
Our characters are Drift, Ratchet.
Turmoil and hunger. In summary, Deadlock joined the
Decepticons the first chance he got.
They gave him a place, a purpose, a direction to channel

(13:18):
his rage. While he would happily forget
his entire miserable existence in the dead end before the war,
there was one bright memory he cherished above all else.
The shining red and white armor and gentle hands of a stubborn
medic who saved his life when the world accounted him for
nothing. Their paths cross again when
Ratchet is taken prisoner by thebrutal Commander.
Deadlock was sent to assist. Deadlock resolves to use every

(13:41):
weapon at his disposal to save the one good thing left in the
universe. I am going to have very, very
generously say that the theme here was looking back at past
events, yeah. That's fair, it is multi
chapter, it is completed. It's been a while since I read
this, but I do think it was entertaining, or at least
interesting in IE W Drift used to be deadlocked with the well.

(14:06):
Drift's fascinating, but also kind of difficult to explain.
Quickly Drift became Deadlock, who was really a really
high-ranking member of the Decepticons.
And then at some point decided he did not want to be a
Decepticon anymore and went backto using the name Drift.
So it's the same person. Just to clarify, because I
called him Drift in every Other pretty much any other time.

(14:28):
He changed his name a few times.Yeah, so I'm like, I'm not held
responsible for the poor decision making of Drift slash
deadlock. All right, not just about wraps
it up for us today. Remember to check us out on
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(14:49):
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Till next time on Specs and I'm Else.
Toodles. Today we bring the show to you

(15:21):
from the Pacific Northwest, where we're all dying from heat
stroke.