5 Reasons to Love "The Core"

The Transformers original animated series has 98 episodes that span from terrible to totally awesome.

Ranking them is a difficult task even if the ranking is made to oneself... Imagine ranking them to satisfy everyone's tastes. Almost impossible. This is not my intention today.

Today I would like to talk about one episode in particular: The Core and the reasons for me to think that this one is one of the greatest chapters on all Transformers animated history.

Let's go to the action, the action, then:


1. The big treason
That moment when Chip and Wheeljack activate the dominator discs and Devastator glows in yellow rays is superb, and very oportune because the combiner just had grabbed Optimus Prime. This is the best part, because here we can watch Prime's leader role on its prime (pardon the words), taking control of the situation and ordering Devastator first to put him on the ground and then attacking his former comrades. All the chaos that came after for the Decepticons really make you think that this time Megatron had blew it up biiiig time, making mistake after mistake.



2. Devastator in The Ark
What a scene to see!!! Hook helping the Autobots to fix the wounds of the battle was amazing, the interaction with the autobots and, ultimately, that funny detail of watching Devastator waiting without his head and Hook transforming into it (a forgivable mistake, because Hook is actually the entire chest of Devastator).



3. The epic of the last battle
Hell, man, there is no waste on everything that happens when the Autobots attack the drill base on the middle of the night.


As a kid, I was on the border of my seat every second, even on the commercial break after Megatron disrupts the autobot control over Devastator.
The combination of the music and the animation when the autobots land and enter the cave is so powerful... Watching Devastator running side by side with the Autobots is superb and everything that happens later... Wow.

 
4. The sacrifice
I could have dreamed all the outcomes to this episode one night before watching it for the first time and maybe what actually happened may have not come to my dreams. Despite some treacherous past actions, this time the Constructicons accepted what seemed their last orders from Megatron: trying to stop the drill would mean their final destruction and they did not hesitated.

Well, we even have that sentimental moment of farewells and thanks from each member of the team before facing certain death. The nexts seconds were pure childhood extasis: once again, the music on the background make the moment perfect, watching Devastator sacrificying himself and, at the same time, the Decepticons escapying was so classic.



When everything crushes, I remember clearly, I said "No, not Devastator, not him", thinking he was actually dead. So, imagine my reaction when he came out of the rubble triumphant.





5. The Ending
What a great way to close an incredible story than to put some optimism.
One of the things that really got me from The Transformers was that it was a different series, the good ones not always came up with victory, or at least not totally, like in The Core.

At the end, even when he was forced to put in risk his existence by Megatron and even abandoned by all Decepticons, Devastator came up being loyal to his leader... loyalty is a value not everyone practices today because maybe no one understand it anymore. Devastator gave us a leason.

But the most awesome part were the last lines Optimus Prime said to Chip when he was heartbroken by Devastator's decision to keep his loyalty to the Decepticons.

Optimus: "What's the matter, Chip?"
Chip: "I guess I thought that Devastator would join the Autobots for good, but that's just a dumb old dream."
Optimus: "Hang on to your dreams, Chip. The future is built on dreams. Hang on."

Facts about The Core
Written by Dennis Marks
It's the episode 40 on the series
It's the episode 24 on season 2
It was first aired on October 29, 1985
Wanna watch The Core? Here it is!!!