Review Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Season 3 Finale Episode 13 Deadlock

Wow, so Transformers Prime animated television series has finally ended and what a ending! 

SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The climatic series finale, Episode 13, Deadlock, has it all. We see the death two of major character, resurrection of one of those major characters, the return of some powerful and often forgotten weapons, and even tongue in cheek nods to some past episodes from the previous seasons. It's 20 minutes packed full of explosions, action, drama, and suspense which leads up to a somewhat satisfying ending. Definitely a bitter sweet pill to take as Transformers Prime is, in my opinion, the best Transformers series that has ever been produced in any format.


The main thing I loved is the all out assault nature of this episode which adds a "all or nothing" feeling to the final conflict between the Decepticons and Autobots. It just feels definitive. We haven't seen anything like this yet. Set dramatically over the Earth's orbit, the full Autobot force (both Scout Team and Wreakers) launch an all out assault on the Decepticon Nemesis warship to stop Megatron from cyberizing the Earth. Characters carry both their default weapons, as well as some of their assault weapons load outs, including Bumble Bee's force shield and the Wreckers heavy weapons. It's also a great nod to see both the Star Saber and the Dark Star Saber make their return.

Heroic Bumble Bee about to get shot in the chest.

Another great nod is when Soundwave uses the Space Bridge as a weapon to displace the Wreckers assault on the Nemesis bridge and also how Jack, Miko, and Raph use the same trick to trap Soundwave in the Shadow Zone. Also a nice nod is when Miko shows up in the Apex Armor and takes out several Vehicons.

Bumble Bee falls to his apparent death.

While this is a epic conclusion, there are some things that linger on and bother me about the ending of this series. The main thing that bothers me is how Bumble Bee's seemingly death and resurrection was handled and the death of Megatron. Ultimately I thought the episode was flawless up until Megatron death. Bumble Bee's apparent death was both heroic and poetically tragic at the same time. I felt  he was yet another soldier who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the war against Megatron's tyranny. Resurrecting him in some "magical" artificial Energon pool and having him stab Megatron from behind kind of sucked. It negates both Optimus Prime as a leader and warrior. It negates Megatron as this bad ass cunning gladiator from the pits of Kaon. It give no purpose to Bumble Bee's apparent sacrifice. I understand that Bumble Bee is probably the only character with a vendetta against Megatron. Megatron tortured Bee, maimed him by ripping out his voice box, and also took over his body during season 1. I'm sure there would be physiological damage to Bee after all that but still it just seems like a cop out because Transformers Prime, despite it's dramatic story, is still a children's show geared toward selling toys. I'd rather have had Smokescreen kill Megatron since they heavily eluded to him being Optimus Prime's successor. Why build up Smokescreen as "the next Prime" and then have him get shot in the shoulder and taken out of the battle? Hmm.

Megatron impaled by the resurrected Bumble Bee.

A few other additional loose ends are left hanging too. Predaking is shown escaping to Cybertron. I'm assuming the TV movie Predacon's Rising will spotlight the climatic fate of the last Predacon versus the Autobots. 

Additionally, What happened to the remaining Vehicons? Did they all fall at the hands of the Autobots assault? We see 3 Vehicon Generals escape after Megatron's demise but they are nowhere to be found when Starscream and Shockwave escape the Nemesis. What happened to Knockout? He attempted to defect to the Autobots side when they resurrected Cybertron and he was punched out by Miko in her Apex Armor. Did she kill him? Is he imprisoned?

Lastly, the hugest unanswered question has to do with Season 3 Episode 8, Thirst. What happened to the infected Airachnid and her Insecticons? We last saw her steadily feeding on her Insecticon minions. Did she drain them all of their Energon or did she merely infect her army and is bidding her time on the moons surface to escape?

Who knows. Hopefully we will get conclusions to these answers in the final installment, Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacon's Rising TV Movie. The wait till October is going to be a long one. 

Airachnid - Last seen on the Moon gorging herself on Insecticons.