Editing Alliance

{{disambig3|Alliance}}

{{episode|
|series=Armada
|ep=49
|prev=Cramp
|next=Union
|title="Alliance"
|furigana=ゆにくろん
|japanese=覚醒<!--alliance-->
|romaji=Unicron
|translation=Awakening: Unicron
|image=Unicronalliance.jpg
|caption=
|production code=TF: A-49
|production company=[[TV Tokyo]], [[Nihon Ad Systems|NAS]]
|writer=[[Isao Shizuya]]
|director=[[Masayuki Motsumoto]]
|animation studio=[[Actas Inc.]]
|airdate=[[September 30]], [[2003]] (English, United Kingdom)<br>[[December 5]], 2003 (Japanese)<br>[[December 9]], [[2003]] (English, United States)
|continuity=[[Unicron Trilogy]]
}}

'''Starscream's sacrifice spurs the Autobots and the Decepticons to join forces. But Unicron awakens...'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:Sshot-arm-494-remains.jpg|left|thumb|You failed, your highness. I'm a Jedi, like my father before me...yeah...]]
[[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]] is astonished to hear about the truce between the two armies and asks if [[Megatron (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] is functioning. [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Cyclonus]] is disgusted that they're doing this simply because the traitorous [[Starscream (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Starscream]] asked that they do it, but then suggests that they simply use the idea of a truce to ambush the [[Autobot]]s. Outraged, Galvatron makes Cyclonus respect his authority with the usual amount of physical punishment. Galvatron is upset at how poorly things have turned out, but Starscream's sacrifice has convinced him: they're going to ally with the Autobots...for now in order to stop [[Unicron]]. Galvatron went far stating of the reasons of why Starscream rebelled against him in the first place, calling him a true soldier.

[[File:Sshot-arm-491-ships.jpg|thumb|Not all Autobot spaceships know how to swim.]]
Seeing Galvatron's point of the crisis, the rest of the [[Decepticon]]s agree to the truce, except for Cyclonus, who is still disgusted by this. Inside of Unicron, [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] and [[Sideways (Armada)|Sideways]] plan their inevitable victory and conquest of the universe. The power of the [[Star Saber (Armada)|Star Saber]] allows Unicron to shed the remains of his moon-disguise shell. The dark god hovers over [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], sucking up parts of the terrain. Both armies evacuate the surface, assisted by the [[Mini-Con]] swarm.

In a ceremonial procedure, Galvatron and his Decepticons meet with [[Optimus Prime (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] and the Autobots for a handshake to seal the truce. The leaders shake hands, and [[Perceptor (Armada)|Perceptor]] also grabs on as his way of representing the allegiance of the Mini-Cons. The kids observe this, astonished that it's actually happening. [[Alexis Thi Dang|Alexis]] begins to tear up and when [[Carlos Lopez|Carlos]] asks her if she's all right, she says she was just remembering Starscream and how he would have loved to see this happening for himself. Forming a single front, the Autobot/Decepticon [[Transformers: Armada (franchise)|armada]] heads towards Unicron. The first volley of fire does no damage against their enemy. Two larger ships perform reconnaissance and are blasted, so a team of [[Hot Shot (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Hot Shot]], [[Side Swipe (Armada)|Side Swipe]], Demolishor, and Cyclonus (and some others) are sent in, based on a theory that smaller ships will elude Unicron's detection. On Unicron's surface, Cyclonus and the generics fly away to break stuff, and Demolishor leaves to avoid Hot Shot, leaving the two Autobots by themselves.

[[File:Alliance Redshirts.jpg|thumb|left|Balls of DOOOOM!!!!]]
Unicron's geography shifts and folds, disturbing his visitors and causing Demolishor to lose [[Blackout (Armada)|Blackout]]. From the base, Galvatron suggests another attack, which Optimus Prime makes sure won't harm the recon crew, who have their hands full fighting against swarms of [[Dead End Drone]]s. Demolishor saves Cyclonus from falling into a fissure, while the Autobots assist their begrudging allies. Demolishor saves Side Swipe from falling into another fissure, and Hot Shot thanks the Decepticon by re-uniting Demolishor with Blackout—a tender moment. Optimus and Galvatron arrive to bring the group home.

From a distance, the armada witnesses Unicron complete his transformation into [[robot mode]], ready to devour the planet.
{{--}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
* [[Scavenger (Armada)|Scavenger]] (17)
* [[Optimus Prime (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (18)
* [[Side Swipe (Armada)|Side Swipe]] (19)
* [[Smokescreen (Armada)|Hoist]] (20)
* [[Blurr (Armada)|Blurr]] (21)
* [[Hot Shot (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Hot Shot]] (22)
* [[Red Alert (Armada)|Red Alert]] (23)
* [[Jetfire (Armada)|Jetfire]] (25)
* Generic Autobots

|c2=
* [[Demolishor (Armada)|Demolishor]] (2)
* [[Megatron (Armada)/Cartoon continuity|Galvatron]] (3)
* [[Cyclonus (Armada)|Cyclonus]] (4)
* [[Wheeljack (Armada)|Wheeljack]] (5)
* [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Tidal Wave]] (6)
* Generic Decepticons

|c3=
* [[Carlos Lopez|Carlos]] (9)
* [[Rad White|Rad]] (13)
* [[Alexis Thi Dang|Alexis]] (14)
* [[Fred (Armada)|Fred]] (15)
* [[Billy (Armada)|Billy]] (16)

|h4=[[Mini-Con]]s|c4=
* [[High Wire (Armada)|High Wire]] (10)
* [[Sureshock (Armada)|Sureshock]] (11)
* [[Grindor (Armada)|Grindor]] (12)
* [[Perceptor (Armada)|Perceptor]] (24)
* [[Blackout (Armada)|Blackout]] (26)
* [[Dead End Drone]]s (27)

|h5=Other|c5=
* [[Unicron]] (1)
* [[Thrust (Armada)|Thrust]] (7)
* [[Sideways (Armada)|Sideways]] (8)
}}

==Quotes==
[[File:Jetfire Shake Hands.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Believe it or not, this ''is'' the correct [[scale]] between the two characters.]]

"Right now, all I can think about is the comrade we lost. Sure, he challenged my authority in a failed coup attempt, and even though Starscream was a traitor, he never lost sight of his oath to the Decepticons. He was a true soldier, unlike most of ''you''!"
:—'''Galvatron''' defends Starscream's memory from the jibes of the other Decepticons.


'''Demolishor:''' "I'm only doing this because I'm following Galvatron's orders."<br>
'''Cyclonus:''' "Ha! I can't believe I'm fighting for harmony! What a load of bunk! I'm a lean, mean, fighting machine! Hahahaha!"<br>
'''Side Swipe:''' "I gotta work with this guy? I'm not so sure about this."
:—The truce gets off to a shaky start.


"Tidal Wave..."<br>
"Uh...nice meetin' ya."
:—'''Tidal Wave''' and '''Jetfire''' shaking hands.


"I can't believe I just saved Prime!"
:—An incredulous '''Galvatron''' after he destroys a cannon targeted at Optimus Prime.


'''Rad:''' "I've never seen anything like it... it's like I'm staring into the face of pure evil..."<br>
'''Everyone at once:''' "He's gigantic!"
:—'''The kids''' are definitely going to need therapy when this is all over.
{{--}}

==Notes==
===Differences with ''Legends of the Microns''===
*At the start of the episode, Demolishor and Cyclonus question Galvatron's decision to join the Autobots without moving their mouths. This is due to the dub extending their lines, as in the original they didn't speak during the shot where their faces are shown.
*The original has Demolishor lamenting Starscream's death, while in the ''Armada'' he claims he was a traitor who got what he deserved.
*In ''Armada'', Hot Shot tells Demolishor to be quiet even though the latter just says he doesn't want to get shot by Unicron. ''Legends of the Microns'' just has Demolishor's saying that the Autobots sound overly optimistic, with Hot Shot's responding with "What was that?!"

===Animation and technical errors===
*Strangely, some errors present are exclusive to ''Legends of the Microns'', whereas ''Armada'' actually fixes them. Granted, it's a ''very'' small number and the episode is otherwise the same animation wise, but still odd, especially since it's ''always'' the opposite. This is the only episode of the entire cartoon that has this quirk, so guess someone must've messed up which version to broadcast. This includes:
**When Galvatron delivers his speech after punching Cyclonus, Wheeljack is colored like [[Sparkplug (Armada)|Sparkplug]]. ''Armada'' has him colored properly (albeit with the red eyes remaining). However, in a later shot when the Decepticons are running, Wheeljack is once again incorrectly colored with Sparkplug's palette.
**When Galvatron shoots at Unicron, his blaster is incorrectly colored white. ''Armada'' fixes this by making it the proper black dark gray and yellow.
** In two shots while in planet mode, Unicron is missing one of his arms.
**When the Autobots and Decepticons go to Unicron with their pods, the former faction seemingly stop in the air when they are trying to land. ''Armada'' fixes this by making them actually land on the ground.
*At several points throughout the opening scene, the Decepticons are all drawn with hideously faulty character models with poor proportions and lack of detail. 
*As the Decepticons prepare to launch the ship to escape from Unicron's gravitational pull, generic Decepticons using [[Inferno (Armada)|Inferno]], [[Mirage (Armada)|Mirage]], and the [[Air Military Mini-Con Team]]'s [[character model]]s are standing in the ship's hangar bay.
*The [[Race Mini-Con Team|Race Team Mini-Con]] Mirage appears among the Mini-Cons there, but he should be with Thrust inside Unicron by now, as the traitorous Decepticon had stolen the [[Skyboom (Armada)|Skyboom Shield]] several episodes earlier. However, this could be just another case of model reuse.
*In the same scene, Wheeljack has been colored as Sideways.
*Several of the Mini-Cons protecting the ''Axalon'' and the Autobot fleet during the lift-off from Cybertron use Generation 1 character models instead of Mini-Con character models.
*The four generic Decepticons on the mission to Unicron change colour between each shot.
*When Unicron begins to transform,part of the ring that surrounds his planet mode is missing.
*When Jet Optimus attacks the Dead End Drones surrounding Hot Shot and Demolishor's recon team, the laser blast comes from in front of the first drone destroyed, rather than behind (the direction from which Prime is coming).
*Unless [[size changing]] occurs when Galvatron and Tidal Wave combine, there's no way Galvatron should be able to pick up Demolishor and Cyclonus with each hand.
*When shaking hands with Tidal Wave, Jetfire's wings are shortened to just above his head. This is possibly to continue the tradition of exaggerating Tidal Wave's size.
**Oddly, despite the change in length of his wings, the characters are drawn to be in accurate [[scale]] with one another.
*When Optimus gives the order to fire only on Unicron's northern hemisphere, the very next shot shows Unicron being fired upon all over his planet mode.

===Continuity notes===
*Despite destroying Starscream for firing upon him in the previous episode, Unicron doesn't seem to mind Galvatron doing exactly the same thing.
*Assuming the episode was entirely in real-time, Unicron's transformation took close to seven minutes.
*The three Mini-Con super weapons are used to fully restore Unicron's power. Guess the Mini-Cons really are Unicron's cells.
*Unicron's innards appear to be [[technorganic]].
*Gadgets and powers:
**Unicron fires lasers from the chunks on the right side of his planet mode (the ones that house the Mini-Con gimmick to fire the leg missiles on the toy).
**Unicron's surface can deploy drones to attack any unwanted guests, specifically the Autobots and Decepticons.
**Mid-transformation, Unicron uses his shoulder/planet horns to fire an energy beam at Jet Optimus.
**The inside of Hot Shot's shin apparently has hollow space, big enough to store a Mini-Con. As an added piece of toy acurracy, his shins open on the transformation hinges of his toy.
**Unicron has a surface-based turret he uses to try to shoot Optimus in the back.

===Continuity errors===
*Cyclonus is in danger of falling into a hole, having apparently forgotten that ''he can fly'', which he was doing ''moments before''. It's possible that he's just that stupid, but not likely.

===Transformers references===
*Several parts of Unicron's transformation sequence are a visual homage to his transformation in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''.

===Trivia===
[[File:Armada decepticons alliance.jpg|thumb|Galvatron...Emperor Palpatine...What's the difference?]]
*The English version of "Alliance" first aired in the United Kingdom. It aired in the United States on [[December 9]], 2003.
*Various cameos appear in the hand-shaking scene, including [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] and a palette-swapped [[Dead End (G1)|Dead End]] of the [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticons]].
*The generic Decepticons sent to Unicron to assist the named characters have Generation 1 character models (namely [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]], [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]], [[Bonecrusher (G1)|Bonecrusher]] and [[Buster (G1)|Buster]]) but with radically different color schemes. They totally {{w|Redshirt (character)|all died}}.
*Various [[generic]] Mini-Cons use the Generation 1 [[Throttlebot]] designs.
*Unicron's transformation sequence, while homaging the Generation 1 version of the sequence, also transforms accurately to the toy.
*Yes, the combined forces of Autobots, Decepticons, and Mini-Cons is what the "Armada" in the title of the series stands for.
*According to ''[[Legends of the Microns Year Book 2003]]'':
**Cyclonus saying that fighting is the only thing makes him feel alive might be one of his few highlights.
**The time during the making of these last episodes were particularly difficult. Everyone was desperate for the final episode to be finished and only such a difficult thing was remembered.
***[[Munetaka Abe]] was busy with animating Starscream's death in "[[Cramp]]", Unicron's transformation in this episode, Overload's robot mode in "[[Union]]", and being the animation director for "[[Mortal Combat]]".  When commenting on Unicron's transformation, Abe stated he used quite a bit of motion tweeks so that the animation didn't take too much time to work on. It was hard but he had a lot of fun.
***[[Hidehito Ueda]] was troubled with the storyboards for "[[Portent]]", "[[Union]]", and "[[Mortal Combat]]", while [[Takeshi Sano]] and [[Masami Nagata]] worked as the storyboarder and animation director respectively for "[[Drift (episode)|Drift]]" and "[[Origin]]".

===Foreign localization===
'''German'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Mit vereinten Kräften'''" ("With Joint Forces")
:*''Original airdate:'' [[January 13|13 January]] [[2004]]


'''Hungarian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Felderítés'''" ("Recon")


'''Italian'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Alleanza'''" ("Alliance")


'''Portuguese'''
:*''Title:'' "'''Aliança'''" ("Alliance")

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[File:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2004 — ''Transformers: Legends of the Microns'' — Volume 13 ([[Columbia Music Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only.<br>
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2006 — ''Transformers: Armada'' — Season One: Part Two ([[Rhino Entertainment]])<br>
[[File:Flag of Germany.png|20px|Germany]] 2009 — ''Transformers: Armada'' — Volume Two ([[New KSM]]) — English and German audio.<br>
[[File:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2014 — ''Transformers: Armada'' — The Complete Series ([[Shout! Factory]])

[[Category:Armada episodes]]