Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the next episode’s recap? Watch this if you have time, Wiki this if you don’t.
When Grimlock starts attacking the Autobots, Bumblebee and the gang must find out why and stop him before he hurts anyone else! They soon find that the trail leads back to Steeljaw, and their first battle with Steeljaw’s Decepticons ensue. Can the Autobots bring back the wayward member and survive their encounter with Steeljaw?
“True Colours” is the eighth episode of the first season of Transformers: Robots in Disguise. It’s the sequel series to Transformers: Prime, and revolves around Bumblebee and his group of cadets on Earth, with a subplot involving Optimus Prime pursuing a mystical mission in the afterlife. This episode sees the Autobots facing their first tiny Decepticon that is not more physically powerful than them, Minitron.
Finally! “True Colours” is an episode that manages to advance the plot and give us a taste of the series arc to come. While the plot is fairly standard and a necessary trope in all adventure cartoons, it does give us a surprise by pitting the Autobots against the Decepticons (note the plural for “Decepticons”). There’s nothing special about how the plot is approached, though the insertion of various bits of characterisation does help make it feel less like filler and more like a proper episode.
Highlights
Grimlock gets his Autobot symbol
I actually haven’t noticed if Grimlock has been wearing a Decepticon symbol all this while, but it’s nice to see him finally recognise as an official member of the team! There’s also this small bit of characterisation earlier where under mind control, he still manages to stop his controller from crushing Russell. Not that I like Russell all that much, but it does show that his base nature is good, and it’s a strong enough trait to overpower his mind controller.
Steeljaw and his Decepticons
Yay! Although it’s not a huge crew yet, it’s the beginnings of what looks like a Decepticon army. We’ll finally get to see an actual army and not just hear about it now, going from the number of Decepticons that have been introduced! Of course, there might be more Autobots later on, but till then it looks like an overwhelming force will await them at the end of the season.
Bumblebee vs Steeljaw
Aaaaaand we have a showdown between the two faction leaders! It’s been a long time coming, since previous series usually have their faction leaders square off within the first 3 episodes (with the exception of Headmasters and Masterforce). Then again, we didn’t really see Steeljaw till much later. Good to see their rivalry building and deepening their motivations for taking each other down!
Letdowns
Pretty obvious that Grimlock is mind controlled
Within 2 minutes you’ll have figured out that Grimlock is mind controlled rather than showing his true colours, as Strongarm and the episode title would have you think. So it’s not a twist at all when you discover that he’s mind controlled. It makes Strongarm look stupid as well. Better to have gone with the mind control assumption right off the bat than pretend that it might be Grimlock being a turncoat – that would have been the more logical, and less forced route for the plot to go.
Minitron is underwhelming
I would have thought Minitron had other powers besides mind control, but unfortunately he’s too easily defeated. When you’ve gotten used to contests of physical might between the Autobots and the Decepticon-of-the-day, this can be a bit of a shock and also a letdown.
All in all, “True Colours” is an improvement over the past few snoozefests of episodes. With the clear establishment of the series Big Bad and his antagonism towards Bumblebee, we now have something to look forward to for the rest of the season.
Leave a Reply