So now that I am done with the G1 cartoon, here are 2 candidates from Season 3 that I feel should be really easy keepers. Let the trial commence.
What is the Work?[]
The Transformers. It is an 1984 TV series by Sunbow Studios, in which alongside a seperate comic series published by Marvel that ran alongside it, gave birth to the Transformers brand, perhaps the most successful of all the 80s toylines with loads of new comic series & manga, cartoons & anime, video games, films, and it really needs no further introduction than the Autobots, robots in disguise, who have to fight the evil forces of the Decepticons to save not only Earth where they are stranded in, but their homeworld Cybertron, dead to their war, or even the whole universe itself. In Season 3 the Autobots also deal with the creators of the Transformrs, the evil Quintessons, and what dark designs they have.
Our candidates today are Dirk Manus and Mara-El-Utha.
Who are They? What Have They Done?[]
Mara-El-Utha[]
A Quintesson whose interest was in the forbidden arts of sorcery, this has all led to Mara-El-Utha exiled from his brethren to the strange dimension of Melonia. There he honed his skills under the teachings of the Golden One, who ruled Melonia. Having taken the place of the Golden One's existing pupil, the Red Wizard, he honed his skills and then beyond sabotaging his master's spells, he eventually lured him to a trap that imprisoned him in a cave, depriving him off the sunlight he needs for his powers. This left Melonia ripe for the taking as Mara-El-Utha, under the guise of the Red Wizard, and ruled Melonia with an iron fist, crushing any and all acts of resistance with ease.
However the numbers do begin to somewhat overwhelm him, but lo, Daniel Witwicky and Grimlock stumble into Melonia, and sees the latter's strength as a huge asset to quell future rebellions. So pretending to be their saviour as he disguises himself as the Red Wizard, he lies to them that he is a benevolent ruler who is quelling an uprising from ambitious usurpers. These lies work as Grimlock is happy to help Mara-El-Utha, even quelling his doubts on why he'll need help if he is so powerful with a good anaology of ants and how their numbers overwhelm. Daniel then was imprisoned by Mara-El-Utha who learns from the real Red Wizard on his true nature. With this, when the castle get damaged, they take it as an opportunity to escape and free the Golden One.
Even with that however, Mara-El-Utha was having an unquestionable victory, where using Grimlock to hold the rebellion back, he was able to use his powers to quell the rebellion even further, especially as the Autobots get fooled into helping Grimlock and the rebellion forced to fall back. However now that the Golden One is free, Mara-EL-Utha calls off his ruse and reveals his true form as he both casts the Autobots away and then weakens the Golden One back into his human form. It really seemed his victory is nigh, but Blaster offered to use his special abilities to amplify the now faint Golden One's final spell to make it take effect and banish Mara-El-Utha from Melonia.
Dirk Manus[]
Dirk Manus, who I'll joking reference as Bruce Campbell because TFWiki seriously prevented me from unseeing it, is a charming intergalactic smuggler who works for the right price, and would then manage to double-cross his clients at the end. His current job being to transport the Creator, a machine capable of breaking down material to a molecular level for destruction or repair, to the Quintessons at their base in Titan. Attacked by the Terrorcon known as Hun-Garr, Bruce Campbell was forced to crash land on Earth. Knowing he's going to get attention, which in this case was from the Earth Defense Command, he buries the Creator before being confrotned by EDC leader Marissa Faireborn and the Technobots, charming them out of his arrest while offering to locate the Quintesson base in Titan for a fee. While Marissa keeps an eye at him all night, Bruce Campbell was still able to charm her into falling in love with him.
He then contacts the Quintessons and convinces them to pay more for the deal with an offer to bring the Technobots prisoners. Marissa overhears this to which Bruce Campbell easily overpowers and binds her. Taking Scattershot, Lightspeed and Strafe with him to Titan, they get ambushed by the Terrorcons with the Technobots going down. Bruce Campbell then delivers the Reactor to them, but realizes the Quintessons double crossed him by paying him in mimic dust. But Bruce Campbell prepared a doublecross as well (a triple cross?) where he set up a nuclear nullifier on the Reactor, preventing them from using it. But then the QUintessons also had a.... quadruple cross where they planted a ship on his ship, sending him crashing down.
Bruce Campbell gets rescued and confrotned by the Technobots and Marissa, who escaped and informed the others. Yet he had one trick up his sleeve, convincing them for one alliance as he is the only one who can disable the Creator. And then he would eventually rescue Marissa and the two share a kiss, open for Bruce Campbell to steal her blaster and hold her hostage as he delivers the Technobots to the Quintessons and use the Creator to seemingly disintegrate them. In truth Bruce Campbell actually was using it to repair the Technobots so that thye can combine to form Computron and attack the Quintessons. When Marissa asks why he didn't inform any of them of their plan, Bruce Campbell answers he needed the seeming betrayal to be convincing to not tick off the Quintessons. And the plan works as the Quintessons and Terrorcons were driven out of Titan. While the credits stolen from the Quintessons were confiscated by Marissa, his shop was repaired to which he shares a final kiss with Marissa before leaving. In truth Dirk had secretly stolen the money for himself, but Marissa planned ahead and replaced themw ith mimic dust, which hardly bothered Bruce Campbell and ends the episode laughing and commending Marissa for outconning him.
Are They Magnificent?[]
Mara-El-Utha[]
Eyyup. Yeah, Daniel's a child, and Grimlock's a dumb brute, but we are shown that Mara-El-Utha is still a cunning foe regardless who still tricks the Golden One into being imprisoned and become Melonia's unquestioning ruler and for lengthy periods of times, quelled any attempts of rebellion. He was able to fool the Autobots to helping him too, and even when the heroes free the Golden One, Mara-El-Utha is still able to weaken him, who is weakened so badly his spells couldn't take effect without Blaster's speakers, in which only then was he defeated. It shows how dangerously competent he is.
Dirk Manus[]
Easily, Dirk Manus is a charming smuggler who is able to get his targets to his clients while preparing a double cross to benefit himself further. And his charisma helped in seducing Marissa into falling in love with him, and actually convinces the Quintessons to increase the price for his deal and despite setbacks deliver the Creator to them while setting it up to ensure it will be unusable to them. While the Quintessons also doublecross him, Manus not only manages to survive all of them (as Quintesson doublecrosses usually tend to be more... fatal), he easily convinces the heroes to help him get one back at them, seemingly betraying them to trick the Quintessons and set the pieces for his defeat. And then when Marissa actually outsmarts him at the end, he doesn't take any issue, he actually laughs in respect.
Are they Baddies?[]
Mara-El-Utha[]
Of all my MB candidates from the show, Mara-El-Utha is by far the most evil of the lot where he would enslave all of Melonia with people whipped in their slavery or sent to the dungeons, on top of betraying his master or having no qualms in imprisoning children. This is all not a shock, as he is a Quintesson, and wasn't banished because he uniquely had moral qualms or anything, just his evil interests were in a different field than his brethren. However... all this is G-rated saturday morning villainy in presentation. There is no death, the suffering of slaves aren't fully delved into. Like compared to the likes of say Megatron/Galvatron who will frequently threaten lives of slaves en-masse to do his bidding or kill many of them anyway, or the rest of the QUitnessons themselves who kill slaves for the lolz on top of organizing wars and massacres, he's tame in comparison.
Dirk Manus[]
Intergalactic smuggler who is even willing to supply weapons to the evil Quintessons, while intent on double crossing his clients or allies, willing to both manipulate Marissa's feelings for him for his own end and then either sell out the Technobots or leave them to die, and is generally a crook only in it for the money. However barring he is pretty much standard in villainy, he does actually love Marissa as well and commends her for getting the best of him at the end.
Final Verdict[]
Should be solid keeps.