Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Transformers Prime S 1 E 22 Stronger Faster

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strongerfasterratchetoptimus_5844.jpg
The truth hurts, even among the closest of friends.
You know what your problem is, Optimus? For such a big, strong 'bot, you're soft. You didn't pound Megatron into scrap when you had the chance—MANY chances, in fact!
Ratchet
Following on from the last episode, Ratchet is analyzing a sample of synthetic Energon he's whipped up from the incomplete formula, amicably allowing Raf to watch. The synthetic Energon fuels an inanimate machine, but Ratchet declares that further tests are in order. He laments to Raf that the recent resurgence in the war has drained the Autobots of their Energon supplies, while Megatron has more Energon than he could ever need by mining the planet's deposits. Sure enough, Energon in transit pops up on the base's radar, and the Autobots prepare to roll out. Ratchet warns Optimus of their depleted Energon reserves, and Optimus somberly acknowledges their dire straits, and he and the team depart. Ratchet bemoans his desire to be able to do more, unsatisfied with his work in the med bay, and decides to speed up the synthetic Energon testing: by testing it on himself, and passes out from a dose of the stuff.

Raf soon wakes up Ratchet, who's surprised to feel great and find that his systems are running great after the synthetic Energon injection. In the field, the Autobots are chasing Knock Out and Breakdown, who are hauling a few cubes of Energon, but are in no hurry to bridge out, since the chase will further drain the 'bots Energon. A squad of aerial Vehicons arrives and places a large obstacle separating the 'bots from the 'cons, but Arcee charges ahead, desperate for Energon. On the other side of the obstacle, she's soon incapacitated by a lucky Vehicon's shot. Just before she can be set upon by the Vehicon hordes, Ratchet bridges onto the scene... and absolutely demolishes the Decepticons with almost superhuman speed and strength, to everyone's shock. While Ratchet wipes out the Vehicons, Knock Out and Breakdown are impressed, believing Ratchet to be a newly arrived Autobot reinforcement, but bridge out before the rest of the Autobots arrive.

Back at base, Ratchet proudly presents the synthetic Energon that has given him such a power boost - now dubbed "SynthEn". The group is impressed, but Optimus condemns Ratchet's use of himself as a test subject, ordering him to focus more on fighting in the medical field than in the battle field, much to Ratchet's dismay. Later, Ratchet begins rubbing the gang the wrong way, goading Bulkhead into a fight (which has the poor big guy lobbed through a wall), challenging Bumblebee, and even obnoxiously flirting with Arcee. Ratchet decides to give himself a second dose, which only further boosts his newfound arrogance when another Energon spike is detected. Ratchet volunteers himself for the mission, demoting Bumblebee to bridge duty.

In the field, the Autobots are exasperated by Ratchet's sheer energy and aggressiveness, and he quickly lays into the miner-class Vehicons before the Autobots can even form a battle plan. He chases one down and pins it down, demanding Megatron's location. When the Vehicon refuses to cooperate, Ratchet begins to melt his face with his welder. The Vehicon eventually relents under such torture, and Ratchet prepares to kill him anyway, but is stopped by Optimus, who condemns his attack on the miner class Decepticon (instead of the typical warrior class they do kill indiscriminately). Optimus accuses Ratchet of acting like a Decepticon, which has Ratchet angered by the coming of another "lecture". Ratchet snarls that Optimus is only trying to stop him because of his status as the medic, and reveals he knows Megatron's current location. Bulkhead tries to defuse the escalating argument, but Ratchet refuses to back down. The Autobots are squandering their limited resources chasing after what little scraps of Energon Megatron doesn't have, when they should be mounting direct attacks on more critical spots for the Decepticon cause. Optimus refuses, stating such an attack would result in the loss of innocent human lives. Ratchet counters that Optimus has no qualms when it comes to needlessly endangering Autobot lives, and mentions Cliffjumper as a prime example. Arcee has to be restrained after this low blow, and Ratchet finally comes to the point of his rant: for all his strength, status, and speeches, Optimus is soft, and has let Megatron escape countless opportunities when he could've killed him. Having finally had enough, Optimus decides to confine Ratchet to base, deeming him unfit for duty from the Energon. Ratchet seems to cooperate, but soon backtracks and throws Bulkhead at Optimus before running off to confront Megatron.

At the base, the gang learns that Ratchet's SynthEn usage has rendered him invisible to their base's scanners, but the medic has already reached the mine where Megatron is. Breakdown's chat about his crush on Airachnid is interrupted when Ratchet comes and beats him into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Megatron berates Knock Out for slow progress finding new Energon sources, and Knock Out blames the new Autobot on the scene. It's at that moment Ratchet arrives, with a defeated Breakdown in one hand and a Megaton Punch in the other, which sends Megatron flying into the wall and causing him to bleed from the mouth. Having initially been amused by the idea of Ratchet posing a threat to him, Megatron smiles and quietly accepts the challenge, and quickly beats and guts Ratchet. Knock Out correctly attributes his more "spirited" nature to a chemical enhancement, which is currently gushing out of Ratchet's innards from Megatron's savage wound. Megatron orders a sample of the SynthEn collected to be used to enhance his troops' performance. Thankfully, the spilling of Energon has brought him back onto the base's scanners, and the gang rolls out to save their friend.

Having collected the majority of the spilled SynthEn, Knock Out prepares to kill Ratchet, but the doctor fights back, wounded as he is, and the duel ends in a stalemate. Ratchet destroys the sample and all of the SynthEn with it, to Knock Out's rage. The Autobots arrive just as Ratchet collapses from loss of Energon. Back at base, Ratchet wakes some time later, and apologizes to Optimus and the team, blaming his desire to help. Optimus accepts, since not only have they recovered a healthy stock of Energon from the abandoned mine, but they've saved something more important - his old, best friend Ratchet.

Though Ratchet and Optimus assume the SynthEn has been destroyed, Knock Out recovers a single drop of the substance, ready to begin his work on it...


Tropes:

  • Actor Allusion: Ratchet injects himself with a mysterious green liquid that makes him a torture-happy Mad Doctor with a penchant for Large Ham monologuing. Sound familiar?
  • An Aesop: Don't take steroids.
  • And This Is for...: FOR CYBERTRO——
  • Awesome, but Impractical: SynthEn makes the subject stronger and faster, but also heightens aggression.
  • Badass Back: Ratchet backfists a Vehicon without turning.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Breakdown wanted to fight the new and improved Ratchet. He eventually gets his wish and is subjected to quite a beat-down (albeit off-screen).
  • Berserk Button: Ratchet triggers Arcee's when he brings up Cliffjumper. She has to be restrained by Bulkhead.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Ratchet saving Arcee from 11 Vehicons.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The SynthEn-powered Ratchet nearly gets himself killed trying to take on Megatron himself, but inadvertently leading the other Autobots to a new Energon supply. He is taken back to recover and vows to perfect the SynthEn without any negative side effects. Unfortunately, though he destroys the last batch, Knock Out manages to find a single drop left, implied to be enough to reverse engineer and create a new batch for the Decepticons.
  • Blood from the Mouth: Megatron gets this out of one full-force punch from Synth-Energonized Ratchet.
  • Blood Upgrade: Ratchet makes Megatron "bleed" some energon - and immediately pays for it.
  • Break the Haughty: Ratchet for most of the episode acted like an even bigger jackass due to essentially taking steroids. Megatron very nearly killing him brings him back to his senses.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Megatron laughs when he realizes that the Autobots' medic had just stormed into their mine alone, just before Ratchet punches his face in. This unfortunately proves to be the only hit Ratchet gets in as it turns out even with the SynthEn, Megatron is still FAR stronger than him, afterwhich he punches a hole in Ratchet.
  • Butt-Monkey: Bulkhead gets abused badly by SynthEn-fueled Ratchet.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle:
    • Ratchet beats the slag out of 11 Vehicons and even Breakdown.
      Bulkhead: I only saw the gorey aftermath, but I hear the doc was a one-bot wrecking machine.
    • He then gets this turned around on him by Megatron. Ratchet lands all of one punch before Megatron decides to get serious.
  • Cutting the Knot: Megatron concedes that Ratchet is different these days, so Knock Out muses that the increased ability is due to a chemical enhancement of some kind. Megatron opts to acquire a sample by ripping a hole in Ratchet's torso and telling Knock Out to collect whatever comes out.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Ratchet clearly thought he could face Megatron despite the fact he's much more suited for back work.
  • Dirty Old Man: Ratchet actually hits on Arcee and winks at her.
    Arcee: Did he just...?
    Bulkhead: Stronger, faster, studlier.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The way Ratchet injects himself through the arm with a canister of SynthEn is very reminiscent of how a junkie uses a heroin needle.
  • Eye Color Change: Ratchet's optics go from blue to green after the first round of taking SynthEn
  • Faux Affably Evil: After acquiring the sample, Knock Out promises to give Ratchet all the credit for the SynthEn right before attempting to finish him off. Quite surprising for someone who's usually Affably Evil.
  • "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: Similar to the previous episode "TMI", Ratchet becomes very arrogant and even destructive because of the Synth-En. He turns on his own teammates when he argues they're being too "soft" on Megatron.
  • Foreshadowing: Optimus overpowers Ratchet when he stops him from killing a miner. It serves to show that SynthEn doesn't bring Ratchet up to Optimus' level and that going after Megatron is a mistake.
  • Friendship Moment: As Ratchet apologizes for his behavior and says he just wanted to help.
    Optimus: We know, but you nearly caused the loss of something irreplaceable: our medic and a most trusted friend.
  • G-Rated Drug: This was an Olympics year, and Synthetic Energon's side effects resemble those of steroids much more than recreational drugs - increased aggression, emotional outbursts and sex drive, with Ratchet even using it because he feels inadequate out on the field.
  • Godzilla Threshold: Ratchet needs more time to experiment on the development of Synthetic Energon, especially when the formula was considered incomplete from last episode. However, with the Autobots' reserves too low to heal them, and natural spots on Earth almost stripped bare, he resorts to trying it on himself to make sure it safe for his allies.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Megatron uses his sharp fingers to rip a nasty hole in Ratchet's torso.
  • Insult Backfire: An unfortunate Vehicon miner, pinned down by Ratchet, refuses to cooperate with him, instead telling him to "get melted!". It backfires horribly.
    Vehicon: Get melted, wheel-grinder!
    Ratchet: Melted? Now there's a concept. *activates blowtorch* I won't ask a second time. Where... is... Megatron?
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Optimus' reaction to Ratchet's "The Reason You Suck" Speech implies he admits at least some of what Ratchet says is true. Killing Megatron would have dealt a hefty blow against the Decepticons in the war, but Optimus' idealism prevents him from going through with it.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: After Megatron's laughing off of Ratchet is met with a Megaton Punch:
    Megatron: Alright, then.
  • Let Me at Him!: Arcee has to get restrained by Bulkhead as she charges at Ratchet for badmouthing Cliff.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Ratchet over the prospect of his recklessness leading to Megatron being within reach of obtaining Synthetic Energon. Later, after waking up in the base, he's very apologetic for his overall behavior.
    Ratchet: Optimus, I’ve been such a fool.
  • Mythology Gag: Knock Out's taunting of Ratchet regarding the Synthetic Energon ("What are you going to do, drink it?") is a nod to the G1 episode "Microbots", where the Decepticons drank copious amounts of Energon, becoming drunk in the process.
    • The title refers to the "Action Master" toyline, in which the Autobots would become "Stronger, faster, more alive" if they became Action Masters. The Action Masters were created by using an Energon substitute (Nucleon) that had all kinds of deleterious effects to the mind and body (the most common of which is screwing up your ability to transform, as the Action Master toys didn't transform.) The title, and evidently the whole idea of Synth-En, is a Whole-Plot Reference to the G1 comic's own "Energon substitute turns out to be a Psycho Serum\Fantastic Drug" storyline.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the third act, Megatron guts Ratchet, causing the latter's Synthetic Energon within him to leak out. The medic is then rendered visible to the sensors in the Autobot base, allowing them to attack the mine, rescue him and recover a new supply of Energon from the mine.
  • Offhand Backhand: How Synthetic Energon-ed Ratchet deals with a Vehicon trying to sneak up on him.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Ratchet's beat-down on Breakdown.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: Ratchet was so eager to help...
  • Punch Catch: Despite his power enhancement, Racthet's fist gets caught by Megatron just before dealing him a crippling blow. Megatron comments that the only component of Ratchet that has improved is his ambition.
  • Shout-Out: The episode's title is apparently derived from the opening narration of The Six Million Dollar Man.
  • Skewed Priorities: With his increased abilities, Ratchet is all in on field work and fighting. While the others like that idea, Optimus insists on Ratchet focusing on his lab work. As he says, the Autobots are lacking in numbers, but the greater need right now is the scientific work that only Ratchet can do.
  • The End... Or Is It?: The last scene sees Knock Out find one last drop of synthetic energon to reverse engineer.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ratchet really lets Optimus have it—blaming him for the Autobots "squandering their resources," what happened to Cliffjumper and not being proactive enough against the Decepticons. The last part shown up top probably stings him the most.
    • Megatron was about to give one to KnockOut for failing to find more Energon until Ratchet came in. Ratchet's arrival cuts off Megatron's need to deliver this to KnockOut since Ratchet was all juiced up with the green Synthetic Energon.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Ratchet may have become stronger and more energetic thanks to the Synthetic Energon, but he is still a Medic-class Autobot. Though he was able to scrap many warrior Decepticons by himself, the battle-seasoned Megatron is still way out of his league and takes down Ratchet with a single punch.
  • This Means War!: Megatron laughs off the new Ratchet, which gets him a nasty punch in the face.
  • Title Drop: After Ratchet demonstrates his increased strength on Bulkhead, insults Bumblebee, and hits on Arcee.
    Arcee: Did he just—?
    Bulkhead: Stronger, faster, studlier.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The synthetic energon improves Ratchet's physical abilities, but...
    • Took a Level in Jerkass: It also "impairs his judgment" - making him increasingly obnoxious and aggressive towards his own team. He physically bullies Bulkhead for the fun of it, tries wrestling leadership of the Autobots away from Optimus and calls Bumblebee a wimp.
  • Torture Always Works: When Ratchet pins down a retreating Vehicon, he tortures him for information using his built-in blowtorch. The other Autobots were horrified with what he was doing.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Despite the Synth-En power boost Ratchet gains, he still proves no match for Megatron in the end.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Optimus to Ratchet after finding the latter tortured a Decepticon Miner for information and then tried to kill him once he got it.
    • Ratchet dishes it back at Optimus for not destroying Megatron when he had many chances to.
  • Win-Win Ending: Both the Autobots and Decepticons score a major victory at the end; the Autobots secure a supply of Energon right out of Megatron's reserves while Knockout collects a drop og the Synthetic Energon, just enough to acquire its formula.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: Ratchet breaks a Vehicon with an over-shoulder backbreaker.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Optimus stresses at different points that Ratchet is invaluable to the team and that he doesn't have to be a warrior to prove his worth.
  • You Are Not Alone: Optimus tells Ratchet that he doesn't have to deal with his concerns on his own and that he will always be important.
  • You Fool!: Knock Out over Ratchet destroying the container of SynthEn.

Top