Stasis Pod

After the Autobots accidentally break a trio of tourist trap animatronic dinosaurs, Sumdac decides it would be a great idea to rebuild them… with the help of his new buddy Megatron! What could possibly go wrong? How many homages to Jurassic Park can they fit in a single episode? And what obvious supervillain hideaway actually exists in real-life Detroit? Join us this week for a Blast from th...

Sumdac’s rival Prometheus Black is determined to prove that the future is human modification, not robotics, but when he has a lab accident while trying to find a way to sabotage the Autobots, he becomes the series’ first new human supervillain, Meltdown! Can the Autobots put a stop to him before he turns Sumdac Tower into a puddle of goo? Can Bumblebee prove that size doesn’...

Sari helps the Autobots settle into their new home on Earth, and she decides to start with a sleepover! But when her key jolts Megatron awake, he immediately starts looking for ways to get the Allspark from them! Can the Autobots survive a game of Twister? Will Prowl stop being a jerk? And just what kind of vocal range does Corey Burton have? Join us this week as we learn that Home Is Where T...

The Autobots are getting settled into their new home, but there’s still one loose thread: Starscream is coming for the Allspark! Can the Autobots stop him? Is this the fastest an Optimus has died in a new series? And does that make it real Transformers now? Join us this week for Transform and Roll Out! Part 3! We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispod@iaconunderground.net and we...

In near-future Detroit, Issac Sumdac has revolutionized the world with his company’s robotic creations. But when an experiment in the nanotech lab gets out of control, it wakes the Autobots’ ship from its stasis at the bottom of Lake Erie! Can they figure out what these squishy “human” things are and save the city at the same time? Whatever happened to this brave Cartoon Ne...

With Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and an overview of everything else after behind us, it’s time to move on to our next full series: Transformers Animated! The war is over, and Autobot Academy washout Optimus Prime is stuck on space bridge repair duty with a ragtag crew when they come across something no one expected to see again: The Allspark! But when its presence draws Megatr...

As the Unicron Trilogy came to a close, the Transformers franchise was poised on the edge of something that would change it forever: Michael Bay’s first live-action Transformers movie. This week we wrap up the Unicron Trilogy and discuss everything that happened between it and our next subject, Transformers Animated! We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispod@iaconunderground.net...

After the Energon cartoon, Hasbro and Takara decided they needed to put at least a little effort into the next one. By enlisting the anime studio Gonzo and actually giving the translators time to work, Transformers: Cybertron was… well, at the very least, better than the two shows that came before it. With far better CG robots, some genuinely charming characters, and a story that at the...

Following Armada’s amazing toy sales, Hasbro and Takara apparently decided lackluster animation and even worse translation were just fine, because that seems to have been the attitude behind the Transformers: Energon TV series. With a confusing plot, stilted CG robots, and translations errors on par with Generation 1’s animation errors, Energon quickly established itself as no one&#821...

With anime the “cool new thing the kids are into”, 2002 saw the first Transformers toyline and TV show jointly developed by Hasbro and Takara for both markets: Armada. And while the toys were exciting and innovative, the show was… less so. With the Autobots out fighting screaming dramatically at the Decepticons, Alexis, Rad, and Carlos find the base’s computer being ha...

After Beast Machines, Hasbro took a break from cartoon production and imported Takara’s Car Robots under the name Robots in Disguise. But only a couple episodes into the show’s American run on Fox Kids, something happened that lowered the American viewing public’s appetite for casual urban destruction . Many episodes had to be edited; a few had to be pulled from airing entir...

With Beast Machines finished, our rewatch of the Beast Era comes to an end. Join us this week as we talk collective fandom fits, the influence of the Beast Era on later Transformers fiction, and Rob tells us all about Bob Skir’s Beast Machines prose story! (Also David apologizes in advance for some “sketchier than usual editing”.) We want to hear your questions! Email us at...

This is it: the final episode of the Beast era! Every Maximal but Optimus Primal has had their spark removed, and now Optimus must face Megatron in his own upgraded body! With the souls of every Cybertronian at stake, with the two of them left as the only living beings on Cybertron, can Optimus defeat him? Or will Megatron succeed in remaking the planet in his image? And will Waspinator ever...

With the sparks of every Transformer on Cybertron at stake, the Maximals try to hold the grounded Grand Mal against the full force of Megatron’s Vehicons. But just what is this new body Megatron is building for himself? Can the Maximals glow and crash into things enough to make a difference? And how far will these titles keep stretching for the sake of hyperbole? Join us for the penulti...

The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by the American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released on March 8, 1994 by Nothing Records and Interscope Records in the United States and by Island Records in Europe. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his “downward spiral” to his attempt at suicide. The Downward Spiral features element...

Megatron is TOTALLY DEAD. He is NOT any sort of rogue spark flying about possessing random conglomerations of reused models. And he was absolutely NOT made that way by some completely incomprehensible techno-babble. Join us this week as we watching something that sure isn’t Spark of Darkness! We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispod@iaconunderground.net and we might answer them...

The Maximals finally find the sparks in perhaps the most obvious place possible, but what Megatron’s doing with them is downright grimdark! Can they escape with their own sparks intact? Why can’t they just leave Nightscream behind with Noble and get rid of two nuisances at once? Will Noble’s reappearance turn out to be super convenient? And how far can an episode title be stretch...

The Maximals split the party in their search for the sparks of Cybertron’s missing population, but when is that ever a good idea? Will they find them?  And how can it be that hard to find porn in a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Join us this week for Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search! We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispod@iaconunderground.net and we might answer them on the show!

With Trust as the only remaining Vehicon general, Megatron bolsters his army with two new ones, Obsidian and Strika, whose sparks he chose specifically for their inherent loyalty. Will the Maximals be able to defeat two of the greatest strategists in Cybertron’s history? Will Botanica be willing to put aside her disdain for violence to defend her new home? And could the new female characters...

When a ship is shot down over Cybertron, a Beast Wars-esque race is on between the Maximals and the sole remaining Vehicon general to retrieve it! But what could be inside? Could it be… a new character?! Come find out with us this week as we watch Home Soil! We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispod@iaconunderground.net and we might answer them on the show!

Megatron infects all the Maximals but Optimus with a virus that makes them all violently hostile! Can they calm their tits long enough to stop him? Will this convince Optimus that Megatron’s philosophy–that free will inevitably leads to conflict–is correct? And how is this at all different from the way they acted at the beginning of Season 1? Join us for all this and a G1 history...

Blackarachnia finally forces Silverbolt to emerge from Jetstorm for good, but the once-hero has gone all 90s dark-and-broody and wants nothing but revenge on Megatron for what was done to him. Can Blackarachnia get through to him? Will we finally learn the origin of the gray apples? And how does actual-dark-fantasy-writer Jen rate his brooding skills? Find out this week in brightest day, In D...

At Nightscream’s urging, the Maximals have taken Noble in, but why is he fixated on trying to get into Megatron’s fortress? Can Noble keep the Savage part of himself under control… or has it never been out of control in the first place? Could the foreshadowing be any more heavy-handed? And could the episode title be any more pretentious? Find out this week as we watch Prometheus...

Megatron’s giant head looms over the city, a feral monster is stalking the ruins, and the Maximals find another survivor who seems to be fully organic! Are all these strange things connected? What is with this show and giant heads? And can Rob and David get Jen and Alex to stop talking about World of Warcraft? Find out the answers to some of those questions this week as we watch Savage Noble...

With Cybertron itself destroyed by the conflicting powers of the Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber, the Transformers universe has now come to an end, so instead we all go play a popular post-apocalyptic RPG. …No? Aw. We want to hear your questions! Email us at stasispod@iaconunderground.net and we might answer them on the show!