Chase (episode)

2015-01-19T21:49:30Z

0NightHawk0: Added minor note to Continuity errors.

{{disambig3|Chase}}

{{episode|
|series=Armada
|ep=24
|prev=Rebellion (Armada)
|next=Tactician
|title="Chase"
|furigana=かげ
|japanese=幻影
|romaji=Kage
|translation=Illusion: Shadow
|image=chasesideways.jpg
|caption=
|production code=TF: A-24
|production company=[[TV Tokyo]], [[Nihon Ad Systems|NAS]]
|writer=[[Ryō Motohira]]
|director=[[Mihiro Yamaguchi]]
|animation studio=[[Actas Inc.]]
|airdate=[[January 27]], [[2003]] (English)<br>[[June 20|20 June]] [[2003]] (Japanese)
|continuity=[[Unicron Trilogy]]
}}

'''The kids and their transforming partners are sucked into a digital world of Sideways's creation, where they meet a truly frightening harbinger of Chaos.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Carlos Lopez (Armada)|Carlos]] complains about being bored with hanging out in the [[Autobot]] base all the time. [[Alexis Thi Dang (Armada)|Alexis]] tells him that being in the Autobot base is serious business. [[Rad White|Rad]] does his best to calm down Alexis and Carlos references the Autobots' sound defense system, but Alexis refuses to chill and assertively walks off with Sureshock.

Elsewhere, the Autobots fight the [[Decepticon]]s.

Alexis panics because she can't locate anything on the Autobots' radar, as the Autobots' monitors are all solid black. When Alexis's own laptop freezes Rad speculates that the technical problems could be attributed to an internet virus or a hacker. Alexis confirms Rad's suspicions and takes counter measures, but it's too late. The kids watch as the virus devours their system.

Desperate, Alexis tries to hard reboot, then disconnects by removing her computer's network wire. The [[Mini-Con]]s try to deactivate the rest of the Autobot computers, but physics take a back seat as the digital disruption spreads off the monitors and forms a spatial anomaly inside the room, solidifying into the shape of [[Sideways (RID)|Sideways]].

With Alexis's best efforts at a technical solution rendered useless, Rad tries to disengage Sideways by literally smashing the Autobots' computer consoles. Alexis and Carlos join in the destruction, which causes Sideways to disintegrate and be sucked into a vortex on one of the Autobot monitors.

[[File:Screenshot-arm-24-1.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Rad and Carlos catch a bad case of Photoshop.]]

In Sideways's place, a colorful show of light shines on the kids and their Mini-Cons, sucking the "spirits" out of their bodies and sending the kids into the same vortex that swallowed Sideways.

At the battle, [[Optimus Prime (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] notices [[Laserbeak (Armada)|Laserbeak]] fall (and [[Megatron (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Megatron]] steps on it). [[Hot Shot (Armada)|Hot Shot]] knows this means something has happened to the kids.

[[Billy (Armada)|Billy]] and [[Fred (Armada)|Fred]] arrive in the Autobots' control room, and find the bodies of their friends unresponsive to any stimuli, and glowing in eerie inverted colors. The Mini-Cons are also affected, and Fred concludes that their friends have been turned into [[zombie]]s.

The three kids and the [[Street Action Mini-Con Team (Armada)|Street Action Team]] (who are not zombies) find themselves in an area with no ground, only a few abstract shapes floating in the air. Soon as Rad and Carlos begin to have fun swimming around this reality, Sideways drives up and introduces the kids to [[Cyberspace]]. He claims there's no way out of Cyberspace, and tries to take one of their Mini-Cons. The kids speed away from the Decepticon.

[[File:Screenshot-arm-24-2.jpg|upright=1.2|thumb|The recolors now show up before the actual character.]]
Eventually the kids fall into an area that looks like outer space, with the six of them floating towards what appears to be [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. Passed by two flashes of light, the kids see a strange glowing purple shape, followed by a dark blue shape with yellow bursts behind it.

Passing right through Cybertron (instead of crashing), Sideways reappears (holding [[Sureshock (Armada)|Sureshock]]) and reveals that everything the kids see in Cyberspace is an illusion. Alexis considers this, and openly speculates that if Sideways was in control of the illusion, he could just seize all the Mini-Cons and wouldn't need to make demands. Sideways gets angry, confirming her theory.

In reality, the Autobots have returned from battle and are confused by the comatose kids and smashed machinery. Fred suggests using Alexis's laptop as a starting point for figuring out what's going on.

[[File:Screenshot-arm-24-3.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Look familiar?]]

In Cyberspace, Sideways grows frustrated with the kids, who have figured out that they can't really be harmed. [[Grindor (Armada)|Grindor]] escapes Sideways's non-existent clutches and floats back to his friends. Seriously angered, Sideways opens fire on the kids, but the kids are entirely unharmed.

When a roaring is heard, Sideways suddenly apologizes to the kids and asks them to keep the entire encounter a secret. Alexis gets a strong feeling of some overwhelming evil, and Rad thinks that's a sign the kids should go, now. Possibly thanks to Red Alert's programming, a white square becomes visible in Cyberspace. The kids head for the light, and just barely escape consumption by a large circular singularity.

At the Autobot base, Rad wakes up and finds the other two kids and the Mini-Cons made it out of Cyberspace alive. Even Laserbeak survived being stepped on. Everybody has a big laugh, and Rad closes by wondering about what that ominous evil force was.
{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (7)
*[[Hot Shot (Armada)|Hot Shot]] (10)
*[[Laserbeak (Armada)|Laserbeak]] (11)
*[[Red Alert (Armada)|Red Alert]] (15)
*[[Smokescreen (Armada)|Smokescreen]] (16)
*[[Scavenger (Armada)|Scavenger]] (17)

|c2=
*[[Megatron (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Megatron]] (8)
*[[Starscream (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Starscream]] (9)
*[[Sideways (RID)|Sideways]] (12)

|c3=
*[[Carlos Lopez (Armada)|Carlos]] (1)
*[[Alexis Thi Dang (Armada)|Alexis]] (2)
*[[Rad White|Rad]] (3)
*[[Billy (Armada)|Billy]] (13)
*[[Fred (Armada)|Fred]] (14)

|h4=[[Mini-Con]]s|c4=
*[[Grindor (Armada)|Grindor]] (4)
*[[High Wire (Armada)|High Wire]] (5)
*[[Sureshock (Armada)|Sureshock]] (6)
*[[Mirror]] (18)

|c5=Other|c5=
*[[Unicron]] (19)
}}

==Quotes==
"Holy Guacamole! It's Sideways!"
:—'''Carlos''', not being a horrible ethnic stereotype at all

"I guess this means I'm gonna miss lunch. My blood sugar is getting dangerously low, Billy!"
:—'''Fred''', with his mind on the important things.

"Oh yay. I'm surrounded by morons."
:—'''Alexis''', in exasperated female anime cliché mode

==Notes==
===Differences with ''Micron Legend''===
===Animation and technical errors===
[[File:Chase Prime.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|"Yeah, baby. Sing...for the King."]]
* In the Autobot group scene where Red Alert reports that his scans indicate the work of Sideways, Optimus Prime's crotch is huge.
*The kids call Sureshock "Grindor" when telling the Mini-Con to escape from Sideways.
*The version of Unicron shown in this episode is based on the G1 version rather than the Armada version shown later on.

===Continuity errors===
*Red Alert said Laserbeak didn't survive the mission, just before Laserbeak flew out from behind Red Alert. Did he create a new drone and just let the kids believe the original Laserbeak survived? (In Micron Legend this was explained that this new one was an 'upgrade' of Laserbeak.)

===Trivia===
*The kanji 幻影 would be pronounced as "''gen'ei''", while "''kage''" uses 影 in this episode's context.
*"Chase" first aired in the United States on [[January 29]], [[2003]].
*One of the brightly coloured objects that the kids pass before they go through Cybertron is [[Jetfire (Armada)|Jetfire]] in his Cybertronic form, drawn as Generation 1 [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]'s VF-1S fighter mode.
*The other brightly colored object, outlined in purple, is [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Tidal Wave]]'s Cybertronian form. It actually somewhat resembles Generation 1 [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] in his laser cannon mode. Perhaps not coincidentally, Tidal Wave was known as Shockwave in Japan.
*Sideways also apologizes to an unseen entity, presumed to be Unicron. However, the fact that Sideways is actively speaking to him seems to contradict his statement in "[[Mortal Combat]]" that Sideways is an extension of Unicron himself.

===Foreign localization===
'''Hungarian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Hipertér'''" ("Hyperspace")

'''Polish'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Porwanie'''" ("Abduction")

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2003 — ''Transformers: Micron Legend'' — Volume 6 ([[Columbia Music Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only.<br>
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2004 — ''Transformers: Armada'' — Battle for the Mini-Cons ([[Rhino Entertainment]])<br>
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2004 — ''Transformers: Armada'' — Season One: Part One (Rhino Entertainment)<br>
[[File:Flag of Germany.png|20px|Germany]] 2008 — ''Transformers: Armada'' — Volume One ([[New KSM]]) — English and German audio.

[[Category:Armada episodes]]

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Chase (episode)