Bad Spark

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Bad Spark is a second season episode of the TV series Beast Wars. It is significant for establishing the forbidden romance between the Predacon femme fatale Blackarachnia and the Maximal fuzor Silverbolt and also for introducing the character Rampage.

[edit] Plot

The Maximals and Predacons discover an extremely large stasis pod with a giant "X" painted on it submerged in an outgrowth of raw energon. A clearly frightened Rhinox looks on as Optimus Primal, Cheetor and Silverbolt go to investigate, while Megatron sends Blackarachnia and Waspinator to steal the pod from them. Upon arriving at the sight of the pod, Optimus reveals that the pod houses the much feared "Protoform X", an experiment in replicating the indesctructible spark of Starscream that resulted in a monstrous transformer who, though brilliant, was deadly treacherous, responsible for the deaths and murders of many Maximals, and "incapable of being recycled." Once captured, Protoform X was placed on the Axalon, with instructions given to Optimus to dump the pod on some barren world where the devious transformer could not harm anyone or anything, and it initially appears that Protoform X's spark has extinguished. As Optimus finishes explaining this, the Maximals are attacked by the Predacons. Cheetor takes out Waspinator, but he is taken out by Blackarachnia, who also manages to trap Optimus underneath some large boulders. As Blackarachnia tries to goad Silverbolt into fighting her, repeatedly hitting him as he refuses to strike back, Blackarachnia is attacked by Tarantulas, who wants information from her - unaware that Megatron is listening in, as he is also in need of information in Blackarachnia's possession - and Tarantulas in turn is struck down by Silverbolt, who makes the mistake of throwing Tarantulas into the pod. The force of the throw causes the energon to rupture and explode, scattering the combatants for miles.

Blackarachnia finds herself stranded in the jungle with Silverbolt, but they agree not to fight; Silverbolt even offers to protect Blackarachnia from Tarantulas. She asks him to "make like a hero" and fly her out of the jungle, but his wing is damaged, so they reluctantly opt to journey to the mountain point beyond the storm, where they can contact their bases. Optimus and Cheetor try to contact Silverbolt, but there is too much interference, and they are too damaged from the explosion to search for him, so they reluctantly return to the Axalon for repairs.

Traveling through the jungle, still unaware that Megatron is listening in on them, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia come across the severed arm of Tarantulas, and have a laugh at him having been "disarmed". Later on, Silverbolt saves Blackarachnia a second time from a sabertooth tiger, despite the fact that she was intending to shoot him in the back; she in turn saves him from falling into a ravine. When he asks her why she saved him, she replies "there might be other... creatures.", much to the disgust of Megatron. During their travel, Silverbolt brings up the fact that Blackarachnia was originally a Maximal protoform herself, and she shoots at him when he tries to get her to acknowledge her more "noble" side. They are both horrified to find a badly mangled Tarantulas in stasis lock, and realize it was the work of Protoform X, and make more of an effort to escape the jungle, only to be cornered by Protoform X itself, who reveals himself to be a giant transmetal crab. He nearly crushes Silverbolt in his claw, but Optimus and Cheetor arrive just in time and, through a combined effort, they manage to subdue the monstrous Transformer, but not before he knocks Blackarachnia off a cliff. Silverbolt jumps down after and, through sheer willpower, forces his wing to work, allowing him to swoop down, catch her and fly her to safety. Being a Predacon, she tries not to appear overly grateful and takes off; Silverbolt almost pursues her, but he is called back to the base by Optimus, while remaining optimistic that Blackarachnia will one day embrace her Maximal side.

As the Maximals leave, Megatron arrives, having overheard everything, and uses an energon knife to remove the spark of Protoform X, which he then uses to force him into becoming a Predacon: "Welcome to the beast wars... Rampage."

[edit] Trivia

• This episode posthumously launched a Beast Wars fanfic cliche in that, between this episode and the next episode "Code of Hero" is the only time frame in which Rampage and Dinobot could theortically appear together.

Preceded by "Other Visits, part 2"

Transformers episodes

Followed by "Code of Hero"