A Plague of Rust During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A Plague of Rust

I’ve put some time into rediscovering Transformers during this pandemic. Previously, I had purchased the Vintage G1 Optimus Prime and Soundwave from Walmart. Prior to this whole “safer at home” situation, I’d been eyeing the War for Cybertron figures in stores. Last week, I finally broke and bought some of them. So far, I’ve managed to transform from robot to vehicle and back Red Alert and Hound. In my social distancing endeavor this Easter weekend, I even started watching Transformers: Cyberverse on YouTube. I can’t stand Bumblebee. I love Windblade. And, hey, it’s Hot Rod and Blurr on Velocitron in the S1:E8 racing fest “Terminal Velocity,” an episode which originally aired on October 20, 2018. So, I’m a little late to the party. But this is so cool! I love Hot Rod and Blurr back from the days of The Transformers: The Movie. I can’t wait to see all of their adventures!

Hot Rod and Blurr together.
These two.

So, yeah, let’s just enjoy this kids show and remember simpler times. I mean, it’s good to get my mind off this whole coronavirus pandemic thing for a while, yeah? Well, in this particular episode, there’s this plague, you see. It’s a plague of rust. And it’s spreading from planet to planet. And I’m thinking: that’s appropriate, but everything will be fine. Oh, no. The plague spreads to Velocitron, and Blurr gets infected, and now he’s dead. Fucking Blurr is dead. So yeah. I’m disturbed. I mean, kill Optimus Prime when I’m eight and I’m fine. It’s just a cartoon. But this?

Blur has caught the rust plague.
I can’t.
Blur succumbs to the rust plague.
I just fucking cant.

Author: Stephen Oravec

Stephen Oravec is a writer from Ohio.