You know, this episode of Transformers: Robots in Disguise couldn’t have run at a more apropos time. You know, considering the whole Hulk Hogan thing. You’ll see.
We start off by meeting the Decepticons for this episode. Groundpounder (John DiMaggio) is a gorilla that transforms into an excavator, and his forklift trainer Headlock, who resembles Mickey Goldmill. Groundpounder is ticked because all they’ve been doing since the Alchemor crashed has been training, and he wants back in the ring. Lucky for him, they can hear a destruction derby announcer from clear across the bay selling up their event “fight” between two beast machines. Seeing the billboard for the event, Groundpounder tells his trainer that that’s how he’s getting back in the ring.
At the junkyard, they’re fixing and moving stasis pods. Grimlock decides that he’s going to lift two pods, damnit, and he succeeds. Unfortunately, they’re heavy enough to unbalance him, nearly causing a collision with Denny’s forklift, which sends the pod Denny was carrying careening into Sideswipe and Strongarm. Grimlock doesn’t even realize that he almost got Russell squished during all of this, and Bumblebee isn’t exactly happy about it all.
They get the call from Drift that a signal is coming in from Crown City. As they zero in on the signal, Groundpounder busts into the stadium and challenges the winner to a fight. As they’re going at it, Fixit finally figures out that they’re in the stadium, and recognizes Groundpounder; who, as it turns out, happened to be one of Cybertron’s greatest gladiators. He apparently wound up on the Alchemor thanks to a huge destructive rampage (which required the elite guard to stop) he went on after being accused of cheating and getting banned from the arena. Fixit never believed that Groundpounder would’ve cheated, as he was strong enough to go toe to toe with just about anyone. Russell asks if the gladiatorial stuff was staged like pro wrestling is here on earth, and Drift lets him know that gladiatorial combat on Cybertron is the real deal; a total bloodsport.
Grimlock’s interest is piqued, but Bumblebee benches him since he’d be too obvious in the city. They decide to head through the ground bridge, even though Fixit still hasn’t worked out all of the kinks. They wind up in the arctic. When he finally gets them anywhere close, they wind up over three hundred miles away from the city. Bee sends orders to get Grimlock to the arena to try and contain Groundpounder, and to have Denny in charge, since he’s the closest they have to a responsible adult.
Back at the stadium, Groundpounder decides that grandstanding in the ring is a good idea. Crusher Casey decides that it is a good time to ram her garbagetruckasaurus into him and pin him against the wall. And Headlock pretty much proves that everything is his fault by slipping under her truck and sabotaging it. Fixit, watching through a feed, is horrified that Headlock would cheat to ensure victory.
Groundpounder wins, Casey is pissed at the promoter (also voiced by John DiMaggio) since her rig is trashed, and the promoter hands the victor’s cup to Groundpounder. He’s initially puzzled that the driver won’t come out to collect his prize, but eventually chalks the whole thing up to some mystery angle. Meanwhile, Fixit is trying to coach Grimlock to beat Groundpounder, but Grim just ignores him in favor of his usual badass punchiness.
They get to the stadium and convince the promoter that Grimlock is being piloted by Denny (in a heavy duty steel cage on Grimlock’s back). He’s disappointed by the fact that they can’t breathe fire, but figures they look good enough to get their asses beat by Groundpounder. Before the fight, they go looking for the Decepticons, but run out of time before the fight.
Grimlock goes at it with his usual zeal and gets his ass beat. He finally starts listening to Fixit and starts to turn the tide of the fight. Unfortunately, before that happens, the steel cage gets deformed shut, keeping Denny from bailing out. Things get worse when the fight causes everyone to flee the arena, the promoter running when the tower he’s in starts to buckle.
Now that there’s no one left to get hurt, they start going full force. That’s when Headlock decides to cheat by stinging Grimlock with his welding torch thing. Fixit won’t let this stand, and mixes it up with evil robot Mickey. He demonstrates the counter to Groundpounder’s next move on Headlock, and Grim follows suit. When he’s got Groundpounder down, he drops a cannonball on him, knocking him out. The rest of the bots finally get there. The Decepticons are caught, Denny’s still alive, and Russell awards the trophy to Grimlock and Fixit.
Final Thoughts:
- All of Groundpunder’s moves are named after Cybertronian cities. With Gygax itself being a nested reference to Gary Gygax. We’re all nerds, here.
- Even Drift got in on that “responsible adult” burn
- I’m still surprised the stadium wasn’t automated.
About Author
