{{faction|autobot}}
{{disambig3|Arcee}}
:''Arcee is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''
[[Image:Animatedarcee.jpg|right|250px|thumb|In Japan, I'm a go-fer!]]
Before the [[Great War (Animated)|Great War]], '''Teaching Unit RC-687-040'''—'''Arcee''' for short—was a teacher, giving young Autobots the knowledge to make their own decisions and spurring them to think for themselves. Once the conflict erupted, she became an intelligence officer for the Autobot war effort, serving under [[Highbrow (Animated)|Highbrow]] in such risky endeavors as [[Project Omega]].

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Susan Blu]] (English), [[Ayahi Takagaki]] (Japanese), [[Silvia Mißbach]] (German), [[Jessica Toledo]] (Latin American Spanish), [[Cecília Lemes]] (Portuguese)

[[Image:Ratchetanimatedthrill.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Hi, good-looking, get sick here often?"]]
Arcee was a teacher on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] and an Autobot intelligence officer during the War. Originally intended to be the commander of [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]], she carried crucial access codes for his activation. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

At one point, Arcee was damaged in the line of duty. [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] repaired her and tried to take her to safety, but the two were attacked by [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], who had been hired by the [[Decepticon]]s to bring her in.

Held prisoner within Lockdown's ship, Arcee insisted that Ratchet use his [[electromagnetic pulse]] tool to wipe the codes from her head. Lockdown overheard this and tried to stop the pair, but in the struggle the device overloaded and sent out a powerful burst. In the confusion, Ratchet and Arcee were somehow able to escape... but Arcee no longer knew who or where she was. The EMP blast had wiped her memory clean. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}}

[[Image:TransWarpedArcee.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Well, this [[Spotlight: Arcee|looks familiar]].]]
Arcee was later taken to Cybertron, where [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] made Ratchet perform open-processor surgery on her vivisected head in an attempt to obtain the access codes for Omega Supreme's activation. This triggered a failsafe which copied the codes to Ratchet's memory. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

[[Image:TFAni ThisisWhyIHateMachines Arcee Earth.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Dames—always waking up at the worst possible moment!]]
Arcee never awoke from the open-processor surgery, and was stored for the subsequent four-million-plus years in the [[Cybertron Central Infirmary]] in a comatose state. When the Decepticons needed to acquire the command codes to "restart" Omega Supreme into a dreadnought loyal to them, both [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] and Ratchet reasoned that their best chance for this would be from Arcee herself. The two of them battled over Arcee and, thanks to the blundering interference of [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]], Shockwave won—abducting Arcee and escaping with her onto Omega Supreme, which Megatron then commanded to transwarp back to [[solar system|Earth's solar system]]. [[Perceptor (Animated)|Perceptor]] was certain that the damage to Arcee's circuitry was totally irreversible, and there was thus no way for the Decepticons to get the codes from her... but apparently he forgot to tell Arcee herself, who soon woke up on the Decepticon-controlled Omega Supreme, calling for Ratchet. {{storylink|This Is Why I Hate Machines}}

On Earth's [[Moon (moon)|Moon]], Shockwave proceeded to rifle through Arcee's memories, initially putting her into a fugue state where she relived her days as "Teaching Unit R-C-687-040" with little awareness of what was going on around her. When [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] transwarped onto the moon, he found her like this and—fearful of what would happen if he disconnected her from the cables plugged into her segmented head—merely opened her comm link before returning to Earth.

[[Image:EndgamePart1-BumblebeeArcee.jpg|right|thumb|200px|But is it art?]]

Eventually, Shockwave managed to access the data tracks from her time as an intel bot, making her aware and—transforming into Longarm Prime mode—asked her to confirm she had the activation codes from Project Omega. When she did so, he unplugged her from the cables, knocking her into stasis mode. Outside, with three purple Omega Supreme clones standing by, as well as the original, he took her fully online again, and ordered her to give them the codes. Given that [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] himself was standing right in front of her, she refused, and instead Shockwave "had to extract it manually". The code transferred to [[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] was "missing a security upgrade patch", however, meaning Lugnut had to be wired directly into Omega Supreme to get them online; while Shockwave worked further on Arcee to try and get the patch. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}}

[[Image:EndgamePartII-Arceeisback.jpg|left|thumb|300px|She's rather personable when she's not a prop.]]

As Shockwave rooted through her processor, most of the restoration work he had previously undertaken was undone, which left her once again as a fugue-state Teaching Unit, even as Shockwave still failed to get the codes. Instead, he used her as bait when Ratchet—accompanied by Bumblebee, [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] and [[Sari Sumdac]]—transwarped to the Moon with the aim of retrieving her and Omega Supreme. While Bumblebee and Bulkhead fought off Shockwave, Ratchet and Sari took Arcee and fled to a lab inside Omega Supreme. There, as Ratchet bemoaned the damage the "Deceptiscum" had done to her, Sari was able to use her nascent technopathy to instruct Ratchet in how to restore Arcee, using the very EMP generator which had caused the original damage to her so long before. She came back online, recognizing Ratchet but remembering nothing since their capture by Lockdown. Ratchet promised to fill her in on the stellar cycles she'd missed, but said that first they would need to regain control of Omega Supreme.

Ratchet and Arcee traveled to Omega's head, and the field-tech lowered her using his magnetics to allow her to reactivate Omega Supreme. With this done, Omega ejected Lugnut, and Arcee joined the Earth residents in flying to Detroit aboard the shipbot so that Omega could confront his [[Lugnut Supreme|Decepticon clones]]. Soon afterward, with Megatron's crew all captured or dead, she presumably flew back to Cybertron with them aboard Omega, although she wasn't seen to join them in their triumphant disembarking. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:Animatedtoy-Arcee.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Hey, remember the [[:Image:Botconarceetoy.jpg|spider]]? Remember when you were content with that?]]
*'''Arcee''' (Deluxe, 2010)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-12'''
**''Accessories:'' 2 swords

:Arcee transforms from a magenta and white robot to a Cybertronic "rocket car," notable to [[fandom|fans]] as the first toy of Arcee that transforms from an approximation of the [[Arcee (G1)|original Arcee]]'s [[character model]] into a car. She comes with two wings, which can be attached at the rear of her vehicle mode (or her robot mode back), and two swords, which can be held in her hands or stored securely in shafts in the rear of her vehicle mode (or atop her shoulder kibble). Some have reported the swords fit loosely, though they are designed to click into place—albeit with a certain amount of fiddling in some cases.

:There is a manufacturing error with many if not all figures. The more Arcee's swords are inserted into the hands, the more the thumbs weaken and will eventually snap off. This can be remedied by shaving down the two tabs on either side of the sword. Most Arcees have stress marks straight out of the package due to the way her thumbs peg onto her back fenders in vehicle mode. Additionally, the unfortunate placement of a tab on the back of her right knee (used to lock the front of her car mode together) prevents her lower leg from straightening out fully.

:Originally intended to be part of a mass retail wave, Arcee and Cybertron Mode Ratchet were eventually released as Toys"R"Us exclusives. Arcee has been notably difficult to find for many fans, leading to accusations of mass [[toy scalping]]. Additionally, Arcee was subject to a running change. Original shipments had Arcee in a glossy deep magenta color plastic, whereas later shipments switched her plastic to a matte medium dark pink. The softer matte plastic means that one can now force her lower right leg into position over the tab. At least some later shipped figures had a [[:Image: Arceeknee.jpg|remolded tab]] that further corrected the design flaw.

: This mold was used as the model for the Japanese-card-reader-game-only [[Chromia (Animated)|Chromia]], and redecoed for the [[BotCon 2011]] exclusives [[Drag Strip (Animated)|Drag Strip]] and [[Minerva (Animated)|Minerva]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2010/Autobot/Arcee/arcee.htm More information on Arcee at TFU.info]''

==Notes==
[[Image:Animated arcee toy.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Slightly different wing sculpts. Anybody care? We do!]]
* According to [[Derrick J. Wyatt|Derrick Wyatt]], Arcee's swords and vehicle mode were designed by [[Eric Siebenaler]] rather than the ''Animated'' television staff.[http://twitter.com/DerrickJWyatt/status/1432265686]
* After Hasbro decided to make her into a toy, Arcee's [[character model]] grew some new vehicle kibble to match. Her shoulder kibble sprouted tiny wings and wheels, her shins sprouted wheels, and her vehicle mode's canopy sprouted on her butt.
* Her [[stock photography]] features wings of a similar-but-different sculpt compared to the wings on the production version. They also attached at a point further from the rear of the vehicle.
* Arcee is given a disproportionately active role in ''Animated''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> [[title sequence]] in Japan. She leaps into action on Earth with everyone else, fights Blackarachnia underwater, and is briefly seen brandishing her toy's swords.
* Even though they're about the same age, Arcee appears to have not aged at all (while Ratchet... well, look at him!), possibly due to her being given round-the-clock medical care while comatose.

===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Arcee''' (アーシー ''Āshī'')

[[Category:Animated Autobots]]
[[Category:Female Transformers]]
[[Category:MacGuffins]]
[[Category:Spies]]
[[Category:Teachers]]

Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations

2012-11-01T14:03:15Z

Mechafire: /* Real-world references */

{{Comicstory
|series=mtmte|TPB=Annual 2012
|prev=Rules of Disengagement
|next=Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD?
|seriesissue2="Primus"
|next2=Primus: All Good Things
|caption=
|image=MTMTEAnn2012_cvrA.jpg
|title="Primus: You, Me, and Other Revelations"
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[September 12]], [[2012]]
|coverdate=August 2012
|written by=[[James Roberts]]
|art by=[[Jimbo Salgado]] & [[Emil Cabaltierra]]
|flashback art by=[[Guido Guidi]]
|color by=[[Juan Fernandez]] with [[Joana Lafuente]]
|letters by=[[Chris Mowry]]
|editor=[[John Barber]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology=[[IDW timeline|Current era (2012)]]
}}
'''The dead rise, Ultra Magnus smiles, and [[Thirteen|everything you know]] is wrong!'''

==Synopsis==
===1: Signs and Portents===
It's just another ordinary day on the ''[[Lost Light]]'': a swarm of long-dormant [[Nanocon]]s, hidden inside [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]]'s body for years, have suddenly become active again, and [[Brainstorm]] has shrunk [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus]] and a team of [[Autobot]]s with his [[mass-displacement gun]] so they can enter Magnus's body and wipe them out. They are unable to stop the Nanocons before they reach Magnus's mouth, however, and at [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]'s direction, Magnus is forced to ''smile'' to crush them in his mouth-pistons and prevent their escape. Unfortunately for Magnus, this makes him a laughingstock aboard the ship, and he does not take it well.

Once everyone is back at full size, preparations begin for the day's other big event: having passed his [[Autobot Code]] exam, [[Tailgate (G1)|Tailgate]] is getting his probationary Autobot [[insignia|badge]]. While [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] silently rebuffs an invitation to the [[Act of Affiliation]] ceremony, the other attendees deal with their own problems: [[Rewind (G1)|Rewind]] helps [[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]] through the shock of an inherited memory of death, [[Swerve (G1)|Swerve]] goes looking for [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]] in the bowels of the ship and is horrified when the corpse of [[Ore]]—still enmeshed with the [[quantum generator]]s—begins talking to him, and [[Drift (G1)|Drift]] tries to convince Rodimus that he's saying "[['Til all are one]]" a bit too much. As Rodimus and Drift move to discussing their impending arrival on [[Theophany]], home of the [[Circle of Light]], Magnus enters, threatening to leave the ship over his mockery at the hands of the crew. Rodimus calms him down, and Magnus then voices his concern about their failure to make contact with the Circle of Light, despite Drift's assurances that the Circle can take care of themselves.

===2: Sacraments and Ceremonies===
Tailgate's ceremony begins, with the audience members taking bets on how long it will take Rodimus to say "'Til all are one" (Brainstorm wins after five seconds). As Rodimus recounts his own Act of Affiliation, [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] notices that [[Ambulon]] is absent, and is informed by [[First Aid (G1)|First Aid]] that he is in the medibay, where a group of offline Autobots have suddenly reactivated and begun clutching their ears. And that's not the only strange thing going on: Cyclonus arrives just in time to see Rodimus bend to draw Tailgate's Autobot symbol onto his chest, only for him to instead scrawl some words that Rewind translates as "Let me out" in [[Cybertronian languages#IDW Generation 1 comics|Old Cybertronian]]. As Rodimus immediately has no memory of doing so, Drift suspects he was possessed by something, and Ratchet's attempts to be rational are drowned out by word coming through on the comm from Swerve of Ore's sudden return to life as well. [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] instructs Swerve to keep Ore calm, lest he panic and trigger the quantum generators, so the talkative little 'bot tells the blinded Ore that he's just in the medibay. When the [[Duobot]] misidentifies his voice as [[Pipes (G1)|Pipes]], and says he sounds like "that Lug-Nut Swerve", Swerve seizes on the mistaken identity and proceeds to confess all his hopes, fears and disappointments, particularly the guilt he carries following his accidental shooting of [[Rung]].

As if things weren't bad enough, the ''Lost Light'' is then hailed by the [[Galactic Council]] ship ''[[The Benign Intervention]]'', whose captain [[K'gard]] informs the Autobots that, as members of a race blacklisted from the council for their war, they are trespassing in one of their sectors. K'gard shocks the Autobots by revealing that the Circle of Light have disappeared from Theophany, and Ultra Magnus—known and respected by the captain—is able to provide legal precedent that grants the Autobots an hour to investigate. Without discussion, K'gard teleports Rodimus and a team down to the planet's surface, where they discover [[Crystal City]] in ruins. Drift, having maintained an unrelentingly positive attitude about everything up until now, finally begins to crack and furiously stabs the ground with his [[Great Sword]]... causing a subsidence that dumps the Autobots into an underground cavern below Crystal City. Simultaneously, K'gard brings Magnus to ''The Benign Intervention'' and extends him a surprising invitation: to join the Galactic Council!

===3: Epiphanies===
Underground, Rodimus and his team discover that the Circle of Light have been powering their city with a [[Metrotitan (body-type)|Metrotitan]], one of the living city-ships of the [[Knights of Cybertron]], and they promptly venture inside its gigantic body, straight to its brain. Musing that he used to pray in the shadow of Metrotitans, Cyclonus is convinced by Rewind to recount the "Primal Sacrament," the Transformers' creation myth, and so tells the tale of the [[Guiding Hand]]: how the creator-god [[Primus]] split his life-force into five, creating [[Mortilus]], [[Solomus]], [[Epistemus]] and [[Adaptus]]. Following their creation of the Transformer race, Mortilus turned on the rest of the Guiding Hand and was destroyed after a brutal, costly war that saw Primus required to merge with [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] itself to survive, while Solomus became the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]], and Epistemus and Adaptus became the prototypical [[brain module]] and [[transformation cog]] that would be the basis of all others. The first Cybertronians blessed with these traits were the Knights of Cybertron, who set out to spread their gifts across the universe aboard their Metrotitans. Ratchet's complete dismissal of the story as utter nonsense finally brings him and Drift to blows, but before things get physical, Rodimus separates the two and takes Drift for a walk, on which Drift confides that he knows Rodimus is going to be very important in the future.

Spurred by Cyclonus's story of their race's origins, Skids and Chromedome talk about the meaning of life and how it is shaped by interactions with others. Chromedome proceeds to tap into the Metrotitan's brain to find out what happened to the Circle of Light, and is assaulted by a horrific vision of Crystal City being razed by [[Legislator]]s. Worse still is the distressing revelation that the Metrotitan is still alive, psychically screaming in terrible pain, having heard the call to return to the reformatted Cybertron, but lacking the power to teleport its massive bulk after being drained by the Circle of Light for so long. A destructive beam bursts from the tortured titan's eyes, shooting up into space and clipping ''The Benign Intervention'', prompting a furious K'gard to cry treachery, return Magnus to the ''Lost Light'', encase the ship in an incineration shield, and teleport a squad of troopers down to Theophany to finish the Autobots off. The troopers arrive just as Skids is realizing that the Metrotitan's psychic scream is responsible for all the recent weirdness—the offline Autobots and Nanocons reactivating, the message written by the "possessed" Rodimus (which Cyclonus notes actually said "Set me free")—and Drift and Rewind are trying to stop Chromedome re-entering its brain in the pursuit of proof of God, and battle breaks out. Believing the destruction of the ''Lost Light'' assured, Magnus contacts Rodimus to say farewell, but Rodimus has an idea and has Swerve put on the line. He instructs Swerve to tell Ore the truth of his situation, hoping that doing so will cause him to panic, jump-starting the quantum drives and teleporting the ship away to safety, but after Rung, and the long discussion he has had about life and death with the revived Duobot, Swerve refuses on the basis that Ore may die. With no options left and no guarantee of their own safety, Rodimus acquiesces to Brainstorm's original suggestion: shrink the Metrotitan with his mass-displacement gun in order to make him small enough to teleport away. The gun flares, and everything goes white...

It's just another ordinary day on the ''Lost Light''. After the Metrotitan shrank to a small enough size, it teleported away, sending the Autobots back to the ''Lost Light'' and taking the psychically-linked Ore with it, in turn triggering the quantum drives and jumping the ship out of the council's clutches. Or as Swerve relates to Rung, to hear Drift tell it, the Autobots' act of kindness restored the Metrotitan's faith in them, and he sent them all to safety and Ore to the [[Afterspark]]. Whatever the case, the mystery of what happened to the Circle of Light remains, and the ''Lost Light'' sets course for the [[Argon Nebulae]] to investigate a possible Decepticon lead. The universe is too hostile for Rodimus to wing it any more: it's time to take control of their situation.

Back aboard ''The Benign Intervention'', Captain K'gard reports his findings to a superior officer, proposing a "regime change" off the back of his discovery that the Autobots forces are split between Cybertron and the ''Lost Light''. He relates that Magnus turned down his offer to join the council, despite his K'gard's warning that staying with the ''Lost Light'' crew would only change Magnus into something he was not. To that, Magnus had nothing to say... he just smiled.

==Featured characters==
(Characters in ''italic text'' appear only in flashbacks.) 
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus]] (1)
*[[Skids (G1)|Skids]] (3)
*[[Whirl (G1)|Whirl]] (4)
*[[First Aid (G1)|First Aid]] (5)
*[[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] (6)
*[[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] (7)
*[[Brainstorm]] (8)
*[[Atomizer]] (9)
*[[Jackpot (G1)|Jackpot]] (10)
*[[Trailbreaker (G1)|Trailbreaker]] (11)
*[[Chromedome (G1)|Chromedome]] (12)
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Rewind (G1)|Rewind]] (13)
*[[Swerve (G1)|Swerve]] (16)
*[[Ore]] (17)
*[[Drift (G1)|Drift]] (18)
*''[[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]]'' (19)
*[[Rung]] (20)
*[[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] (21)
*''[[Ambulon]]'' (22)
*''[[Optimus Prime (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Optimus Prime]]'' (23)
*[[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] (35)
{{!}}}
|c2=
*[[Nanocon]]s (2)
|h3=[[Guiding Hand|The Guiding Hand]]
|c3=
*''[[Primus]]'' (26)
*''[[Mortilus]]'' (27)
*''[[Solomus]]'' (28)
*''[[Epistemus]]'' (29)
*''[[Adaptus]]'' (30)
|h4=[[Galactic Council]]
|c4=
*[[K'gard|Captain K'gard]] (24)
*Troopers of [[The Benign Intervention]] (34)
*Officer of the [[Galactic Council]] (36)
|h5=Others
|c5=
*[[Tailgate (G1)|Tailgate]] (14)
*[[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] (15)
*An unnamed [[Metrotitan (body-type)|Metrotitan]] (25)
*''[[Metrotitan (Zone)]]'' (31)
*''More unnamed Metrotitans'' (32)
*''[[Legislator]]s'' (33)
}}

==Quotes==

==Notes==
*This issue contains the first of two interlinking stories with the title prefix of "Primus", told through the 2012 ''Transformers'' annuals. The stories' unifying theme is that of exploring and revealing a lot of new information about the earliest days of life on Cybertron, embodied in the presence of the Metrotitan, which appears in the [[Primus: All Good Things|''Robots in Disguise'' annual]] following its disappearance at the end of this issue. The flashback sequences in both these issues are drawn by Guido Guidi in a retro style gloriously evocative of the original [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel Comics series]]—particularly the inking work of [[Ian Akin]] and [[Brian Garvey]] and the limited-palette, not-always-entirely-inside-the-lines coloring of [[Nelson Yomtov]]—which he has also showcased in the variant "B" covers of ''[[The Transformers: Regeneration One|Regeneration One]]''.
*Initially solicited for release on August 15th, this double-sized issue eventually arrived three weeks late.
*A sketchbook section in the back of the issue includes designs for the Guiding Hand by Guido Guidi.
*This brings Ultra Magnus's lifetime smile count up to ''three''.
*When Rewind says he hasn't heard Cyclonus's version of the story of Primus, he might as well be speaking for the readers, who have probably heard several versions of the story of Primus and the origin of the Transformers, but not one exactly like this.

===Transformers references===
*Nanocons were first mentioned in "[[Zero Point]]", where it was left ambiguous whether or not they really existed or were just figments of [[Roadbuster (G1)|Roadbuster]]'s imagination.
*While perusing the A's of the crew manifest back in [[Liars, A to D Part 1: How to Say Goodbye and Mean It|issue #1]], Ultra Magnus warned against letting an unnamed character anywhere near a crossbow. That character is implicitly revealed in this issue to be [[Atomizer]], a character first mentioned in James Roberts's prose story "[[Bullets]]", making his first pictoral appearance here.
*[[Skyfall (G1)|Skyfall]]'s death by drinking [[Gideon's Glue]] also took place in "[[Bullets]]".
*Rodimus's "'Til all are one" montage gives us a few glimpses of scenes "between the panels", including him welcoming Fotress Maximus onto the ship after [[How Ratchet Got His Hands Back|issue #5]], and cradling Rung's body between the last few pages of [[Interiors|issue #6]].
*The Cybertronian game of [[Cybertronian sport#Fullstasis|Fullstasis]] is mentioned, which first appeared in [[Eye of the Storm|issue #69]] of the original Marvel series.
*The epigraph to chapter two is a quote from [[Beachcomber (G1)|Beachcomber]] that identifies him as hailing from [[Ibex]], a Cybertronian polity previously only seen in [[Exodus!|issue #77]] of the Marvel US series. The quote is from a work he wrote on the [[Primal Prophecies]], which were mentioned in Roberts's "[[Chaos Theory Part 2]]".
*While the Galactic Council were first mentioned in "[[Chaos Theory Part 1]]", the notion of other alien races hating and shunning the Transformers was previously seen in IDW continuity back in "[[Spotlight: Drift]]".
*Rewind is able to tell that Drift "sounds upset" by listening to him as he transforms, backing up Chromedome's claim from [[Interiors|issue #6]] that Rewind can determine a Transformer's mood from the sound of their transformation.
*The epigraph for chapter three is a quote from "After the Ark: Nominus Prime and the Illusion of Progress", a tract written by [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] and mentioned in part 1 of "Chaos Theory".
*During Cyclonus's story about Primus and the Guiding Hand, he stops to ask Rewind a question when he's about to name Primus's "opposite." He never does give the name, but we can guess [[Unicron|who it might be]]; a certain chaos-bringer is keeping up his track record of not being mentioned by name in IDW continuity thus far.
*The Guiding Hand's war is revealed as the alleged reason for the loss of Cybertron's [[Moonbase One|first moon]], first mentioned back in issue #1 and in multiple places since. It is noted that Rodimus once vowed to find it; presumably this was the "moonquest" Swerve said he'd been on in that same issue. However, back in "[[The Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime|The Death of Optimus Prime]]", Optimus attested that the disappearance of Luna 1 was '''not''' something which happened in the "ancient past".
*The story concept of [[Metrotitan (body-type)|a Metrotitan]] which appears dead but then "comes back to life" is likely a reference to the old fan-misconception that the [[Metrotitan (Zone)|original Metrotitan character]] in [[Transformers: Zone (franchise)|Zone]] was a [[Misconceptions_and_urban_legends_about_Transformers#Japanese_Generation_1_fiction|"zombie Metroplex"]].
*Rewind shows Cyclonus an image of Cybertron as it existed in his time, including annotated images of the [[Pious Pools]] and [[Warrior's Gate]], locations Cyclonus specifically pined for back in issue #1.
*Swerve refers to the [[Afterspark]], first mentioned in "[[The Transformers: The Death of Optimus Prime|The Death of Optimus Prime]]". Where that issue implied it to be a hellish, barren wasteland, here, Swerve refers to it with some degree of hope. Really, it's probably just yet another name for the [[Allspark|communal afterlife dimension]], given that the name it was originally known by, the "Allspark", has become nothing but confusing since the introduction of the physical [[AllSpark]] object in other continuities.
*The Argon Nebulae originate from the Marvel UK story "[[Robot Buster!]]".

===Real-world references===
*Whirl's graffiti makes mention of doing something to a shiny metal bodypart of his. This is probably a reference to Bender from Futurama, who's catchphrase is "Bite my shiny metal ass!"
*Drift's lengthy list of the virtues of Crystal City's denizens, and inability to give a similar list for his own crew, tailing off with "...and us with our... with our...", leading to his crewmates' put down is very similar to an exchange in the UK sci-fi comedy ''Red Dwarf VI'' episode "Legion".
*The fleet of ships in the background of the panel where [[Mortilus]] melodramatically gestures the advance of his warriors includes the recognisable silhouettes of vessles from several other science-fiction franchises, such as the ''USS Enterprise'' from ''[[Star Trek]]'', ''Serenity'' from ''Firefly'', the "derelict" from the ''Alien'' franchise, and a Cylon raider from the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica''.
*The above-mentioned epigraph quote from Megatron paraphrases the famous [[Wikipedia:Karl Marx|Karl Marx]] quote, "Religion is the opiate of the people."

===Errors===
[[Image:Duobot heads.jpg|150px|thumb|What are you looking at, baldy!]]
* The artist appears to have misinterpreted how Alex Milne drew Ore's trapped head in issues 2 and 3 — instead of being trapped across the forehead such that the entire top of his head is stuck in the engine and his right cheek is free, his head drawn far more vertically, and the slice above where the top of his head had been embedded is drawn as "bald", missing the helmet he shares with [[Shock]].
* First Aid is erroneously colored as Swerve in the first panel on page 11.
* Skids is drawn with no left hand on page 15.
* Rewind appears to be flying in [[data slug]] mode at the top of page 18. James Roberts later clarified that the panel was "misleading", and that Rewind lacked this ability;<ref name="FlyingRewind">[http://forum.idwpublishing.com/viewtopic.php?p=308201#308201 James Roberts:] I'm afraid this is a misleading panel. Rewind can't fly in giant dataslug mode.</ref> obviously, he's just [[Buzz Lightyear|falling with style]].
* On the same page, Drift's entire body is colored gray, save for his head.
* On that same page again, Chromedome is blue.
* Cyclonus sports green eyes on pages 20 and 21.
* Swerve appears on page 24 on the Metrotitan's face despite the fact that he's supposed to be talking to Ore on the ''Lost Light''. This appears to be a script error rather than an artistic one, since the dialogue exchange in this panel uses the terms "Crusadercons" (which Swerve came up with in [[Liars, A to D Part 2: Hangers On|issue #2]]) and "brain-quest" (matching up with Swerve's love of quests)... ''exceeeept'' that means the bubbles appear to be switched, as Rodimus says these things and Swerve replies.
* Likewise, Tailgate is seen standing with Swerve on the Metrotitan's face despite not being in the group that teleports to Theophany's surface. Indeed, he's later shown to be still on the ''Lost Light'' with Ultra Magnus when the Metrotitan teleports everyone away.
* Also on page 24 Rewind reacts with (perhaps sarcastic) surprise when Cyclonus speaks, yet on page 20 he's ''right there'' when Cyclonus reports in to Rodimus and Drift.
[[Image:MtMtEAnn2012-BlasterPink.jpg|thumb|Wait 'til [[e-HOBBY]] see this...]]
* Blaster is erroneously colored pink with a purple head on page 31.
* Ratchet's hands are colored red on page 35.
* Ultra Magnus's shoulder missiles disappear between panels on page 39.

===Crew manifest===
* Ore briefly returns to life before being teleported away with the Metrotitan.
* Swerve is having trouble locating [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]], who said his "last words" in "[[Rules of Disengagement]]"
* Although [[Hyperion (G1)|Hyperion]] and [[Polaris]] were the only casualties, First Aid confirms that several Autobot sucked out of the ship in issue #1 are off-line and in the medical bay.

===Covers (3)===
*'''Cover A:''' Hot Rod & co. look at the collapsed Metrotitan, by [[Tim Seeley]]
*'''Cover B:''' A fantail of pictures showing the cast with Crystal City at the centre, by [[Alex Milne]]
*'''Cover RI:''' Ultra Magnus, Rodimus, Ratchet and half a Metrotitan, linking with the ''Robots in Disguise'' Annual 2012 cover, by [[Jimbo Salgado]]

<gallery>
Image:MTMTEAnn2012_cvrA.jpg|Cover A
Image:MTMTEAnn2012_cvrB.jpg|Cover B
Image:MTMTEAnn2012_cvrRI.jpg|Cover RI
</gallery>

===Advertisements===
* ''[[The Transformers: Robots in Disguise|Robots in Disguise]]'' [[Primus: All Good Things|Annual 2012]]
* ''[[The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye|More than Meets the Eye]]'' [[Shadowplay, Part 1: Post Hoc|#9]]
* ''Robots in Disguise'' [[Night and the City|#9]]

==External links==
*[http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album_view.php?gid=4499 Preview]

==References==
<references/>

Hard Knocks

2012-10-09T21:32:54Z

Mechafire:

{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 48
|prev=Alpha/Omega
|next=Inside Job
|image=HardKnocksKnockOut.jpg
|caption=Look out, Cosmo, it's Superbike!
|title="Hard Knocks"
|airdate=[[October 5]], [[2012]]
|written by=[[Mairghread Scott]]
|directed by=[[Vinton Heuck]]
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''As the race grows more desperate, Knock Out harnesses the power of sound while Starscream gains the power of hyper speed.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] is still hard at work decoding coordinates, while [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] boasts about his defeat of Optimus. Soundwave soon comes up with another set of coordinates, and [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] insists on going. Though Megatron is skeptical, recalling [[Tunnel Vision|the last time]] the doctor tried to obtain a relic, Knock Out insists he won't fail this time, and borrows Soundwave's [[Resonance Blaster]].

In the [[Autobot Outpost Omega One|Autobot base]], [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] is likewise decoding coordinates. [[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] annoys everyone by boasting it is his destiny to be a great warrior and being generally exuberant. To his disappointment, when Optimus decodes a set of coordinates, [[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] and [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] are the ones selected to go on the mission, and he is left at base. Arcee and Bumblebee arrive at a lakeside and spy the second [[Omega Key]] sitting out in the open, but Knock Out is already there, waiting. Using the Resonance Blaster, both Autobots are sent flying and when they try to flank the Decepticon, he shoots it at the ground, raising a cloud of dust so he can use it as cover to zap them. By the time Arcee and Bumblebee recover, Knock Out is long gone with the key.

[[Image:HardKnocksDreadwing.jpg|thumb|right|250px|I know what you're going to ask me: Where do I keep all those bombs?... Don't ask.]]
[[Image:HardKnocksBumblebee.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)|I'm not taking you with me.]]]]
Back on the ''[[Trypticon (Prime)|Nemesis]]'', Megatron inspects the relic and wonders if it is a decoy, though Knock Out protests the Autobots fought too desperately for it. Soundwave decodes more coordinates which Megatron believes will provide them with more answers, but when Knock Out declares to investigate, Megatron instead gives him the task of analyzing the key and its purpose. Meanwhile, Bumblebee undergoes repairs, and Smokescreen's swagger continues to get on Arcee's nerves so she goes to find some peace and quiet. Bulkhead reminds Smokescreen that the war has been going on a long time and he needs to have patience to work as a team player.

[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] has finished refining his [[Red Energon]], but finding it slow work and with only a small yield of a one-time use. Luckily the ''[[Harbinger]]'' computer picks up more Decepticon activity, and Starscream decides he can use the Red Energon to obtain a more valuable artifact.

The Autobots gain a new set of coordinates, and Bulkhead and Smokescreen roll out, though Arcee reminds Bulkhead to keep an eye on their eager comrade. The pair arrive on a forested mountainside where [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] is waiting. The Decepticon knocks them flat before flying off, and the two Autobots realize that Dreadwing has mined the trees... '''all''' of the trees. They manage to outrun the explosions, and Bulkhead sends Smokescreen after the relic while he goads Dreadwing into a fight. As they exchange blows, Dreadwing plants a bomb on Bulkhead's back, and after Bulkhead manages to knock him flat, sets it to explode. Unfortunately for Dreadwing, Bulkhead already noticed the bomb and transferred it to his back during the fight, and though Dreadwing throws the bomb away, it goes off close enough to knock him out.

[[Image:HardKnocksBulkheadDreadwing.jpg|thumb|right|250px|FATALITY.]]
Smokescreen meanwhile uncovers the Omega Key, only to be rendered unconscious by a blow from behind. When Bulkhead wakes him, the key is already gone. Smokescreen is deflated by his failure, but as they return through the [[GroundBridge]], Bulkhead reminds him that they need all four keys to revive [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. Starscream, hiding nearby with the key he grabbed, overhears them talking, and regards the key he holds with new respect and ambition.

Back at base, Smokescreen exclaims his inability of securing the key and Arcee lectures him on realistic expectations and tells him he needs to be a team player. Upset, Smokescreen leaves the base and Optimus, saying the young Autobot needs to clear his head, returns to decoding coordinates. On the ''Nemesis'', Megatron is unhappy at Dreadwing's failure, and checks with Soundwave regarding the project to find where the Autobot base is located. Soundwave reports that he has [[Laserbeak (Prime)|Laserbeak]] scouting around [[Jasper]]. As both sides complete their decoding work, the final set of coordinates resolve into an image—a picture of Smokescreen himself, to both sides' surprise. Unfortunately when Optimus tries to call in Smokescreen, the rookie does not answer due to deactivating his comlink, and has instead fallen into Laserbeak's sights. Laserbeak fires on Smokescreen, who transforms to confront the drone, only to be knocked flat by Soundwave's Resonance Blaster. When the Autobots arrive at the location, they are just in time to see Soundwave dragging their unconscious friend back to the ''Nemesis'' through the Decepticon GroundBridge.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] (4)
*[[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] (5)
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] (6)
*[[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] (7)
*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (8)
*[[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] (9)
|c2=
*[[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] (1)
*[[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] (2)
*[[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] (3)
*[[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] (11)
*[[Laserbeak (Prime)|Laserbeak]] (12)
|c4=
*[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] (10)
}}

==Quotes==
"Last one to the Omega Key has to scrub the Energon tanks for a week." 
"Didn't know we were keeping score."
:—'''Smokescreen''' and '''Arcee'''

"Who knew that ''sound waves'' could be such a ''knock out''?"
:—See what '''Knock Out''' did there?

"Sub-woofer? Or depth-charge?"
:—'''Knock Out''' is just full of name-dropping goodness today!

"Make sure you keep an eye on 'destiny's child', okay?" 
"Compared to watching Miko? Piece of cake!"
:—'''Arcee''' giving '''Bulkhead''' some advice on handling the rookie.

"You love doing your dirty work from a distance, don't ya? Too bad you don't have the ball bearings to fight up close and personal!"
:—'''Bulkhead''' gives Dreadwing some smack talk.

"What is that?" 
"One of the the last sounds that you will ever hear!"
:—'''Smokescreen''' gets his question answered by '''Dreadwing'''

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
===Continuity notes===
* Megatron brags about his accomplishments in [[Alpha/Omega|the previous episode]] to Soundwave.
* Megatron loosely refers to the events of "[[Tunnel Vision]]" while expressing surprise at Knock Out's willingness to get his hands dirty in light of what happened the last time, as well as more directly in his failure to obtain the [[phase shifter]].
* Optimus still has the improvised sword-holder Ratchet made for him in the previous episode.
* Knock Out and Soundwave both use the [[Resonance Blaster]], which Soundwave retrieved in "[[Triage]]".
* Starscream has refined the [[Red Energon]] he obtained in "[[New Recruit]]", though it's only enough to last for one use. ''Maybe two.'' He also remembers the loss of the [[Apex Armor (Prime)|Apex Armor]] in the same episode.
* Dreadwing reminds Bulkhead of their previous battle in "[[Loose Cannons]]".
* Megatron mentions that recent events have allowed them to narrow down the location of the Autobots' human allies, most likely referring to their discovery of [[Raf Esquivel|Raf's]] house in "[[The Human Factor]]".

===Transformers references===
* Knock Out hopes that the new relic is an [[electro-disrupter]] cannon.
* The concept of an Autobot being the Omega Key comes from the [[Transformers: War for Cybertron (games) | War for Cybertron]] game, only with [[Omega Supreme (WFC) | Omega Supreme]] being the Autobot instead of Smokescreen.

===Real-world references===
* "Slow and Steady Wins the Race," is the famous moral in Aesop's most well known story: The Tortoise and the Hare.

===Trivia===
* Knock Out and Dreadwing both had the opportunity to take their assigned relics and leave, but stuck around to fight the Autobots. Dreadwing in particular must have spent hours placing bombs on all those trees.
* Unlike the other Energon variants, no side-effects are seen with the use of refined Red Energon... so far.
* Megatron sends three different Decepticons to do his dirty work in one episode. They must be taking shifts.

[[Category:Prime episodes]]