Earthspark Skywarp is Rekindling my Appreciation for TF Fight Scenes
Yes I'm rewatching Earthspark for the 994035th time. You can't comprehend how much I love this show, but especially the sheer creativity going into the animation, and especially Skywarp's teleporting. I'm just so glad they not only remembered to bring that back, but actually added to it. The 2D effects are gorgeous, and the way she interacts in partnership with Nova Storm is just plain awesome, and it's actually exciting to look at!
I often struggle with fight scenes due to my visual processing difficulties, so my brain tends to just phase-out excessive explosions and gunfire that most TF media opts for. But I can actually watch Earthspark, and enjoy it! The TFs use their powers and bits of their kibble and actually do interesting and fun things, they fight like how Cybertronians should fight, conveying their power, their difference, their alien nature. Everyone praises the Seekers vs Megatron + Optimus fight, but it's because it's so fresh. Earthspark promised it would bring us something new, and it really has. I don't think any other show has done such a good job of showcasing exactly why humans fear Cybertronians as well as that one shot of Skywarp clashing with OP as Dot desperately tries to get her family to safety. They're giants, with technology far beyond human understanding, almost mythic. Most of the humans there have military training, including Dot, but they all just scatter as soon as the Seekers touch down. There is absolutely nothing they can do against these monsters.
We don't get to see if Nova Storm has her outlier ability (or whichever term they might use in Earthspark), but I hope she does, and I hope we'll see the other Rainmakers (and the other Seekers!) She does notably take some significant knocks, including Megatron's fusion cannon piledriving move, and yet only Skywarp comes away with the slashed wing, so I have high hopes. They were a good pair to choose for this fight, because their abilities are formidable, but not so much that they couldn't be easily defeated by OP and Megs. It *feels* like a dramatic, high-stakes fight, because we see how afraid and vulnerable the humans are. Skywarp's flashy power gives us a glimpse at the more frightening aspect of Cybertronain nature - their unpredictability. Some of them can just do things even other Cybertronians can't replicate, let alone protect against. Optimus denies that the humans fear them, but how can they not, when even the Autobots can't explain or replicate every aspect of their species' technology? It would be easier if they could just be seen as machines, but outlier abilities are nearly supernatural, they show the Transformers to be so much more than that, and therefore, not trustworthy, not reliable, not easily defined or categorised in terms of threat level and hazard assessment.
And the fact is - Skywarp isn't even the worst of the Seekers, let alone Cybertronians overall. She looks like a top-tier threat, able to warp in close to Optimus and hack at him before he can stop her, to jump around faster than he can fire a blaster, making twists and air manoeuvres no human made jet would ever manage, but he so easily knocks her aside, he's more surprised she and Nova Storm are even trying to attack in the first place. Imagine how much devastation someone like Sunstorm could have wrought? The humans would have likely been killed immediately by one of their radiation bursts. Or, if Skullcruncher is here, imagine the horror of Mindwipe's ability? Overlord?
GHOST are established as throwing around their power over Megatron and the Autobots, but the moment a couple of beaten-down Seekers show up, who don't even have the benefit of working with their original trinemates, they're totally out of their depth, relying on Prime and Megatron to fight. The mystery deepens as to just how they're managing to hold any kind of sway over Megatron at all, and what happened to Skywarp and Nova's trines. We know Starscream is captured, but what of the others?
And why are the Decepticons in such bad shape in the first place?
I need the rest of Season 1 beamed into my brain now. I love Skywarp and Nova Storm's friendship so much, they're such an unlikely duo for mixing up trines, and yet it works so well.
I'm for sure gonna make more posts with some specific analysis of mythology and folklore in Earthspark and also Nova Storm and Skywarp's relationship because I have a LOT of thoughts but for now, watch Earthspark. Please, if you haven't already, support the show. It's so good, the writing is fun, it's visually stunning, please watch it.
