HELLFIRE

An action sequence from Transformers: Victory, staged like a side-scrolling shooting game. This two minute sequence encapsulates everything fun about 80s mecha anime. The limited TV animation doesn't hold the excitement back, it enriches and informs it. Instead of complicated movement strings we get unusual angles and tense framing. Seeing the combined Victory Saber ship repeatedly smashing through identical bulkheads doesn't get dull, the loop is too quick.

We also get time to hold on two gigantic heavenly bodies hurtling towards each other, slow motion stretching the moment of impact out for maximum effect. The sound design is wonderful too. When the two machines eventually collide the impact is shrunk down to a tiny detail, noted with the crackling sound of giallo glass shattering. After a brief pause, the destruction blossoms - bizarre vacuumed whines and crunchy, debris field explosions combining to stress the otherness of intergalactic robots tearing each other apart in space.