Editing Predatory

{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 12
|prev=Speed Metal
|next=Sick Mind
|image=Airachnid.jpg
|caption=
|title="Predatory"
|airdate=[[April 16]], [[2011]]
|written by=[[Marsha Griffin]]
|directed by=[[Todd Waterman]], [[Kirk Van Wormer]] (co-director)
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''When Arcee takes Jack on a routine mission, Airachnid turns up, putting him in danger.'''

==Synopsis==
A mysterious object streaks through the [[Solar System]] and crashes in a remote part of the northern [[United States of America|United States]]. Trudging through the forest nearby are [[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] and [[Jack Darby]], out searching for an underground [[energon (fuel)|energon]] deposit that [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] has detected. Jack complains about the mosquitoes, but Arcee picks up some strange readings and they quickly come upon the crashed spaceship. Telling an increasingly unnerved Jack to stay where he is, Arcee moves in closer to examine it, and suffers a flashback containing a [[Airachnid|menacing figure]] as she realizes whose ship it is. She attempts in vain to contact [[Autobot Outpost Omega One|base]] to request a [[GroundBridge]]. Leaving Jack by the ship, Arcee walks out into the trees to find a trail left by her mystery assailant, and again flashes back to a past time when she had been captured. Jack interrupts her, and she transforms before driving them both at high speed through the trees for a distance. When she still can't contact base, she drops Jack off on the other side of a deep crevasse and heads back. Jack starts climbing down the side of the crevasse. Arcee, scouting among the trees, finds a tree stump covered in an acidic compound, and has another flashback.

[[Image:Predatory-Airachnidscratch.jpg|thumb|250px|left|]]

''On [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], Arcee runs through ruined buildings while radioing [[Delta Team]] for backup. She trades banter with her partner [[Tailgate (Prime)|Tailgate]] before asking directions, but before she can complete her next sentence, she's stuck to a nearby wall by a glob of webbing. She finds herself chained up, a prisoner of [[Airachnid]], who scratches her face with a talon.''

Elsewhere, Airachnid moves in on an unsuspecting camper in a tent. As she jumps to strike, she's tackled by Arcee, and the pair roll downhill to a clearing. Amused to be reunited with the Autobot after all this time, Airachnid reveals her new hobby: collecting the heads of endangered species, though most of them weren't endangered until she got to them. Now she has her sights set on a human for her next trophy. Enraged, Arcee begins fighting her, but Jack arrives, distracting Arcee long enough for Airachnid to web her to a nearby rock. Arcee cuts her arm free and zaps Airachnid before informing Jack that he's more a liability than a partner. Jack responds that he can tell she's afraid, and she flashes back again.

''Finding Arcee a tough nut to crack, Airachnid has a couple of [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]] drag in Tailgate. Arcee, however much she wants to save her partner, doesn't know the attack coordinates, and Airachnid slays Tailgate.''

Airachnid recovers from being shot and says she's heard about [[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]]'s fate, then twists the knife by asking Arcee if she has a problem with losing partners. As Jack flees, Airachnid promises to finish Arcee later, then begins pursuing the boy. Arcee flashes back once more.

[[Image:Predatory-ArceeBeeCliff.jpg|thumb|250px|Color coded for your sake.]]

''As Airachnid moves in on her prisoner once again, [[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] and [[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]] burst in to execute a dramatic rescue. Though Airachnid escapes, they cut down Arcee and carry her out as she laments that she couldn't save Tailgate.''

Arcee begins trying to escape from the webbing she's been trapped in. Meanwhile, Jack ducks behind a fallen tree in an attempt to evade Airachnid, but she easily finds him. He continues running, scaling the sides of the crevasse again. He pauses behind a tree to look at his pocket knife before realizing it won't be much use against a Transformer. Eventually, he reaches Airachnid's ship and hides against it as she searches around. While clambering around it, he finds a puddle of [[energon (fuel)|energon]] leaking from a port on the underside of the ship. Grabbing a nearby stick, he uses his pocket knife and flint to set fire to it, then throws it into the leaking port. Airachnid, now standing on top of the ship, yells his name as the ship explodes.

Jack is thrown clear, but just as he's beginning to relax, a still-burning Airachnid pins him to a nearby tree with webbing. She moves in, but Arcee comes barrelling through the trees and beats her with feet and fists, until Airachnid is knocked through a bunch of trees. Arcee cuts down Jack, but then they hear the sound of drilling, and find Airachnid has burrowed into the ground and escaped. Arcee says she admires Jack's bravery, and as she radios base for a GroundBridge, calls him her partner.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] (1)
*[[Tailgate (Prime)|Tailgate]] (4, flashback)
*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (8, flashback)
*[[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]] (9, flashback)
|c2=
*[[Airachnid]] (3)
*[[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]] (7, flashback)
|c3=
*[[Jack Darby]] (2)
*Camper (5)
|c4=
*[[Airachnid's specimens]] (6)
}}

==Quotes==
"I may not have stinger-proof metal skin, Arcee, but in a pinch, I can use my multi-function pocket knife and magnesium fire-starter to cook up some freeze-dried mac and cheese."
:—'''Jack''' subtly plants a [[wikipedia:Chekhov's gun|Chekhov's gun]].


"So much for closure."
:—'''Arcee''' is annoyed as Airachnid gets away.

==Notes== 
===Animation or technical errors===

===Continuity errors===

===Transformers references===

===Foreign dubbing===

===Real-world references===
*This episode contains four or five possible references to the ''[[Predator (alien)|Predator]]'' franchise: Airachnid's ship entering Earth's atmosphere resembles the movie's opening scene, Airachnid coming to Earth with the sole purpose of hunting humans echoes the Predator's motive, Airachnid's trophy case of heads is similar to one seen in ''Predator 2'', and the scene in which Jack uses a personally made flaming "arrow" to ignite energon resembles a tactic used by Arnold Schwarzenegger's character Dutch in the first film. The title "Predatory" may also be just as much a reference to ''Predator'' as it is to [[Predacon (disambiguation)|Predacon]]s.
* The sound effects used for when Airachnid spews her webbing are the same used for [[Spider-Man]] in the 2008 ''[[Wikipedia:Spectacular Spider-Man (TV series)|Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' TV series, in which Josh Keaton (Jack) voiced the title character.

===Trivia===
[[Image:Predatory-Airachnidship.jpg|thumb|250px|    The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.
    Down came the Jack, and ''blew'' the spider up.]]
*This is the first episode not to feature Optimus, Bulkhead, Raf or Miko.
*Arcee, Cliffjumper, and Bumblebee didn't have different robot bodies on Cybertron, retaining all of their Earth vehicle-specific [[kibble]] long before reaching Earth.  This seems to be [[Skyquake (Prime)|intentional]].
*With its scratches and angled spikes positioned against burnt trees, [[Airachnid's ship]] resembles a hairy spider in one shot.
{{-}}

==Home video releases==

==External links==


[[Category:Prime episodes]]