Attack of the Slitha Monsters #3

Part One.
Part Two.

So last time, the bad guys and then the good guys teamed up with each other.

Cybron announced his intentions during their previous meeting to combine the power of Dargon's "slitha monster" giant worms with the power of his bioborg technology (which created various powerful goons such as Replicon and Grenader, both mentioned in part two).

So Dargon has some worms and huge handler scientists sent up to initiate this conversion.

Seriously, based on the size of the worms in other scenes and how big they are relative to the one they're loading into the giant tube, those guys must be at least thirty feet tall, and probably more like forty.

Animation errors aside, the process is completed with lots of bright primary color magic chemicals, and momentarily...

So what kind of capabilities will the new bioborg worms have?

Well, they don't show up for a while after this (not until the next post, in fact), but I will tell you that for some reason, their roars sound more like sheep than giant monsters.

Yes, really.

Anyway, the new worms are apparently enough freakier than the plain old ones that it scares the bejeebers out of Cybron and company.

While I'll admit that the second mouth is amusing, it's not really that scary, though.

Now comes the most annoying part of this particular story: The stupid, unconnected side plot out of nowhere.

Well, it'll be here in a moment. First, comic relief dopey guy antics!

Soar Loser and Crazy Stunts (boomerang guy and cowboy dude) are apparently trying to impress this unnamed random redhead from the Netheron rebels.

Somebody has to infiltrate the enemy base, and in order to impress this chick, they both want to go in alone.

So Soar Loser suggests the natural solution: A coin flip.

Now, here, I actually have to give kudos to whomever directed and animated this part. This series often has rather stupid animation errors, but the animation here is quite sharply designed (though still typical low-budget stuff otherwise) and actually shows something that is rather difficult to demonstrate in animation: Soar Loser cheats using a double-sided coin, and it's actually obvious if you pay attention to the animation that the coin really is double-sided.

He goes to the rather comical enemy base in Netheron...

Now it's back to the stupid side plot.

A little background info: In the first episode of the series, it's revealed that the team leader, Skysurfer One, is the son of a scientist who built all sorts of advanced computer stuff, including a virtual reality helmet that records people's memories and a supercomputer brain which is now affixed to the top of Cybron's head-because Cybron apparently was a more mundane criminal of some kind who stole the darned thing and somehow merged it into his own nervous system.

The helmet that they show here appears to be the virtual reality helmet from the earlier episode, which was damaged severely there so that the memories recorded on it couldn't be used against Cybron (they may have revealed something about Cybron's "real identity," which over time has become one of the lamest excuses for stupid plot maneuvering ever).

However, either it isn't, and they're just recycling a design, or the writers had no idea what the heck they were doing, because what this helmet does has nothing to do with the other episode at all.

Here, they talk about this helmet being an unfinished prototype that also is for some reason a failsafe measure for use against Cybron's brain.

No, I don't know why it would suddenly pop up in this episode from rather late in the series completely at random in the middle of an unrelated plotline and interfere with a much more interesting plot that doesn't require it at all.

Supposedly, he'll be able to use the helmet to read Cybron's mind or something.

Cybron realizes something's wrong when he's standing there, just hanging out and crowing, and suddenly the lights on his head start blinking more than usual.

In effect, I guess they're registering increased network activity.

It apparently starts to hurt.

A lot.

Back at Skysurfer headquarters, Skysurfer one is "locked in psychic combat" with Cybron.

Which apparently means "face melting contest."

Cybron is doing quite badly, so he has his daughter, Serena/Cerina, hit his emergency off switch on his back, and he falls to the floor, seemingly lifeless.

(A note on Cybron's daughter's name-for some reason, Wikipedia renders it "Cerina," but I'm inclined to render the name by a more traditional spelling, "Serena." So I'm going to do so.)

Serena is pretty furious over what happened to Daddy Headbox, so she plots to trick the Skysurfers using a microphone plugged into Cybron's brain.

Yes, really.

Predictably, Skysurfer One immediately tries to use the helmet again once his face has stopped melting.

He hears Serena's message (delivered in Cybron's voice in some of the creepiest lip-syncing ever), which is about how they're planning on executing Soar Loser, but I can't imagine why this is relevant, because he should have found out by now that he had been captured anyway, right?

Eh, whatever.

Then Serena crows over her daddy.

Which is just as creepy as it could be.

Skysurfer One gets to rebel headquarters, and is shown a huge screen with the tactical information they have on it.

Basically, they still need to know where the next attack will be, because they basically know nothing.

Skysurfer One and Air Enforcer eventually go off on a rescue mission. In the meantime, we see that Soar Loser has been tied to the same fetish execution device that Lazerette got tied to in part one.

When the rescue team arrives, the trap flies into action, including Replicon's signature attack: Turning his head into a projectile-firing device of some kind!

Skysurfer One promptly tries to rescue Soar Loser from the execution device, which is lowering him into a pit with this thing in it.

It has a name, but I can never make it out. It's probably just as well-it'd probably drive me insane.

Anyway, Serena goes over to watch the final new type of worm monster chow down, but...

...well, she kinda falls in.

Soar Loser manages to escape, but Skysurfer One stays behind to rescue Serena. And then the door closes up top. Uh-oh.

What a perfect place for a cliffhanger, huh?

-Signing off.