"Only Human" Bloopers

TOTAL NUMBER OF BLOOPERS: 54

GREAT LINES

SNAKE: "This is the world, Mr. Drath.  Everything is for sale."

TRIVIA QUESTIONS:  

1. What was the name of the warehouse in which Drath stored his explosives?
2. Which of the Dinobots appears in this episode?

PLOT OVERSIGHTS: (6)

• Victor Drath approaches a fellow named "Snake" in this episode.  He is, of course, the infamous COBRA Commander from G.I. Joe, in the singlemost blatant crossover of the entire Transformers series.  However, his participation in this episode creates a very minor continuity glitch.  The problem used to be that in 1987 (a year after this episode was produced), COBRA Commander was retro-mutated to a snake in G.I. Joe: the Movie.  This particular problem was thankfully solved when he was returned to normal in the five-part miniseries, "Operation: Dragonfire."
   Now that you've been given more background than you ever needed to know, here's the blooper:  Up until his mutation, COBRA Commander usually wore a silver face mask.  When he was restored after G.I. Joe: the Movie, he got some snazzy new body armor, complete with a Darth Vader-ish silver helmet.  This happened in 1989.  So why, then, did he go back to the silver mask in 2006?
• Also, a word on these synthoids.  They first appeared in a two-part G.I. Joe episode called "The Synthoid Conspiracy."  (They also popped up in "There's No Place Like Springfield.")  In G.I. Joe, synthoids were artificial human clones, who were reduced to blobby puddles of goo once their given tasks were finished.  In this episode, however, the life-essences of four Autobots are extracted from their robot forms, which somehow creates enough blobby matter for their consciousnesses to spontaneously metamorphose into synthoid beings.  Also, Victor Drath doesn't get it quite right when he says that synthoid technology transfers minds from living hosts.  The original technology copied the minds, not transferred them.¹
• After the Autobots-as-synthoids escape the garbage truck, wouldn't you think Rodimus would have shattered his shoulder, battering down that large steel door?  (I guess synthoids don't have bones.  On the other hand, maybe he's a Witwicky.)
• Isn't it just terribly CONVEEEENIENT that there are four outfits hanging on hooks in the junkyard, just waiting for four naked people to take them?  (See Animation and Continuity below.)
• At Michelle's house, the injured human-Rodimus utters what could easily have been one of Optimus Prime's famous non sequiturs:  "Circuits... shorted.  Matrix...  Need... Matrix..."  Why does he need the Matrix again?  Does he think he's going to die and enter the Matrix after that nasty laser burn on his arm?  Or perhaps he's planning on entering the Matrix and consulting with the ancient Autobot leaders to learn the secrets of the synthoids?
• Here's a fun little retroactive blooper:  In "The Rebirth" part 1, why is Brainstorm so concerned that there's no place for human partners to inhabit the Autobots in robot mode?  Drath's cronies just open up Rodimus and Springer's chests and climb right into the ready-made cockpits.

DIALOGUE AND SOUND EFFECTS: (11)

• I'm not sure about this one.  When Drath's right-hand man picks up the cronies stealing the newtronium, one of them says, "Thanks, Dutch.  I thought we was goners."  It sounds like they inserted a pause between this line and Dutch's response, but skipped back to the end of the crony's line:  "--s.  Yeah, well, you still might be, when Mr. Drath finds out about this."
• Quite an amazing coincidence that Snake sounds so much like Starscream, isn't it?  
• After the Autobots infiltrate Drath's estate and Springer comments that he likes Drath's flair for the dramatic, the laser beams activate and Ultra Magnus says, "Still amused, Springer?" without moving his mouth.
• Human-Magnus says, "This wasn't the plan; our survival was unintentional," and human-Rodimus is moving his mouth.  Rodimus is still moving his mouth when Magnus says he and Arcee are going to try to contact Autobot City.
• As Drath's cronies are chasing human-Rodimus, he says, "Gotta... get... into house!" and his voice is Transformer-amplified.
• Human-Springer's voice is also amplified when he asks the cronies, "Need a hand?  I, uh, operate heavy equipment."
• Apparently human-Springer managed to transform his robot body from car mode to helicopter mode at some point before he and human-Magnus escape, but we never hear a transforming sound.
• When Rodimus Prime's body, in robot mode, blasts Springer in helicopter mode, his gun makes that same C-3PO noise that was first heard in "Starscream's Ghost."  For those of you just joining us, the sound effect is a sample of C-3PO from The Empire Strikes Back yelling "No!" as a stormtrooper blasts him.
• Blaster's voice is very heavily amplified in this episode, about twice as heavily as normal.
• When human-Arcee is inside the cell in Autobot City listening to Blaster's report that the Autobots are coming home, she's lip-synching Blaster's words.
• Metroplex's guns in battle station mode make the "Don't!" sound effect as well.

ANIMATION AND CONTINUITY: (37)

• At the very beginning when the dock workers run, commenting that "the whole city's going up," the smoke coming from the buildings in the background isn't moving at all.
• When Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime arrive on the scene, Magnus appears in his incorrect "toy design," with the missile launchers mounted on the front of his trailer instead of either side.  And Rodimus has got his alternate design from "Forever is a Long Time Coming" and "Starscream's Ghost" again.
• Also, when Rodimus and Magnus transform, they both leave their trailers behind, and the cab portions of their vehicle modes form their robot modes.  Usually, Rod's legs form his trailer, as seen in the movie (and later in this very episode, when Drath's goons are controlling him).  While this is technically correct for the Rodimus toy, it's not consistent with Rod's cartoon model.  And Magnus is never supposed to do this.
• When Dutch asks Drath if he intends to "ice them robots," Drath merely nods.  Well, he doesn't exactly nod.  He pivots his entire neck forward.  (It's possible for him to do this; it just looks funny.  It makes Drath look like a G.I. Joe figure, actually.)
• As I mentioned earlier, COBRA Commander wore a silver mask in G.I. Joe, and as we saw in G.I. Joe: the Movie, it only covered his face.  In this episode, however, his face, head, and neck seem to be covered in silver armor.  Not only that, but it appears that he's wearing the gauntlets of Serpentor, the COBRA Emperor.  Hmm...
• The exterior shot of Autobot City really bothers me.  It may be a nicely-drawn city, but it looks nothing like Metroplex, nor the city we saw in The Transformers: the Movie.
• We've already seen Rodimus Prime's alternate design, and now Ultra Magnus.  This episode is the first time  in an animated episode that we see the original designs that were rejected for Springer and Arcee.  Springer's got a lot more details on him, particularly on his legs, and his backpack is different.  Arcee's main difference is that her arms are on backwards!  (These are the character designs used in the Marvel comic books, incidentally.)
• When the Autobots arrive at Drath's estate, Magnus' truck cab transforms into his robot mode again.
• Once the Autobots have been captured, after Snake presses the button for the restraining clamps, the insignia on Ultra Magnus' right shoulder is missing, and then it appears on his left shoulder (the wrong one).  Also in this scene, parts of his helmet are colored white, like his face, instead of blue.
• As Springer struggles to free himself, a panel on his backpack keeps flashing from light green to dark green.
• In one scene where the Autobots are "going down the tubes," Ultra Magnus has normal eyes instead of goggles.  In another scene a few seconds later, Rodimus and Magnus begin to look transparent.  The machine is just extracting their life-essences, right?  Why would their bodies turn transparent?
• When Snake berates Drath for Drath's lack of imagination, he walks towards the synthoid chamber, but he's moving faster than the steps he's taking.  (It's like he's on a conveyor belt.)
• In the junkyard, there's an entire chicken leg in the garbage bin where the "blobs" are being disposed of.  Who would throw away a perfectly good chicken leg?
• So... synthoids are fashioned with white T-shirts, pants, and slippers?  It sure is a good thing they aren't naked when they're created, otherwise they could never air this episode.  (Nudge, nudge.  Wink, wink.)
• When the Autobots-as-humans are crouching to avoid detection, at one point, human-Magnus turns his head to reveal that human-Springer, who is behind him, is missing half of his face!  Also, in this scene, human-Magnus has a full head of brown hair, but in subsequent scenes, he has grey side burns.  (I guess those synthoids age fast, eh?  Come to think of it, that would explain why Springer needs a shave, apparently after only a few hours.)
• So, about these conveniently-placed outfits.  Isn't it lucky that they just happen to be in the exact same colors as our four heroes?  Also, I find it interesting that they are the exact same style outfit that the workers who assembled the synthoid machine were wearing.  I guess fashion has fallen out of place and been replaced with functionality by 2006.  (That sure would explain why Spike always wears the same get-up.)  Finally, why doesn't Magnus wear the snazzy hat that was hanging with his outfit?
• Should I tease human-Arcee about her Princess Leia-style cinnamon bun hair?  Okay, I won't.
• They use an Autobot Flippy Symbol to a Decepticon Flippy Symbol from the scene where Rodimus and Springer are making it to Drath's place to the scene where Snake is remote-controlling the Autobots.  I don't know if that's a mistake or not... I just found it interesting.
• When Snake is demonstrating to Drath that he can control the Autobots, Arcee is missing.  What, were Drath's men embarrassed to drive around in a pink convertible?
• In town, when human-Springer walks by the bus stop, he passes behind the bus stop sign.  From where he's standing, he should be in front of it.
• After the human-Springer offers his services to Drath's goons, he climbs into his robot body, and his legs go over the control panel instead of behind the controls.
• As human-Magnus pulls the pin on the photon grenade, there's a reaction shot from one of Drath's men, through a window in what appears to be Ultra Magnus' chest.  I find this interesting because, although the toy does have windows in that very spot, they are almost never drawn like windows in the cartoon.  (I think they has a window-sheen to them maybe once in the movie.)
• As Michelle is making coffee for humie-Rodimus, the bandage on his right arm is colored dark red, like his outfit, instead of white.  (On the other hand, maybe it's just saturated in blood.  Ick.)
• When humie-Rodimus asks Michelle to get him into Drath's house, the button on his shirt collar disappears.
• On Drath's monitor, in the still image of Magnus and Arcee in vehicle mode, Magnus is missing his missile launchers.
• When Rodimus and Springer pull up alongside the vehicle-mode Magnus and Arcee, Rodimus is actually drawn like Hot Rod.
• When Rodimus' body transforms and blasts Springer in helicopter mode, Rodimus has got the wrong gun.  It might be the gun that goes to his alternate model, but it's not the gun he normally uses in this show.
• As the cronie-driven Autobots approach Autobot City, Drath's monitor shows Magnus, Springer, and Hot Rod.  It should be Magnus, Arcee, and Rodimus.  (I'm not even going to bother asking where this camera is that Drath has got rigged so close to the city.)
• When Springer does join the trio, some Autobots in the city are cheering--namely, Kup, Perceptor colored like Sideswipe, and Grimlock.  It really surprises me that they still had Sideswipe's color model laying around at this point in the series.
• After the Springercopter crashes, the cockpit lifts up and humie-Springer jumps out.  Earlier, when humie-Springer jumped inside, the glass cockpit slid back on a track.
• When the Autobots are being restored, why is Magnus' body the only one in vehicle mode?  
• The back of Perceptor's pelvis flashes from black to red for an instant as he's hooking up the wires to human-Rodimus' chamber.
• Blaster's cassette door buttons disappear for just a moment as he presses the button to return the Autobots to their bodies.  (Why he's involved in this procedure at all is another matter entirely.  I bet he was hoping he'd find the original soundtrack to "Cold Slither" laying around the place somewhere.)
• When the Auto-humans are in the chambers about to be restored, they're still wearing those conveniently-colored overalls.  But as the restoration actually takes place, they're suddenly in their long johns again!  By all rights, shouldn't the overalls be the only thing left in the chamber?
• As the Autobots' life essences travel through the tubes to return to their bodies, the energy doesn't actually go through the tubes.  Actually, it goes sideways.  I think someone rotated the animation cels 90º to the right.
• A few seconds later, the same animation of Blaster pressing the button is used again.  Mistakes are still there this time, too.
• In Snake's final scene, as he's walking along the street, the road jumps noticeably.  It looks like they had to splice in about half a second's worth of "road footage" in, since they ran out.

TRIVIA ANSWERS:

1. Drath's Import Warehouse.
2. Grimlock.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

¹Tim Finn

©1999 Inspiration Studios