Editing Toxicity

{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 41
|prev=Triage
|next=Hurt
|image=Toxicity Tox-En.jpg
|caption=Despite the title, this episode has nothing to do with System of a Down.
|title="Toxicity"
|airdate=[[May 26]], [[2012]]
|written by=[[Steven Melching]]
|directed by=[[Scooter Tidwell]]
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''Bulkhead encounters life-threatening danger during the last relic hunt.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:HardshellTeaser.jpg|left|thumb|250px]]
With other teams dispatched to find relics, [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] visits the [[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticon]] hive and calls for a volunteer. [[Hardshell]] steps forward and Megatron sends him and three others to find the fourth and final relic. The four Insecticons arrive in a volcanic region on the equator and immediately split up.

At the Autobot base, [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] watches [[Miko Nakadai|Miko]] leave [[Jack Darby|with]] [[Bumblebee (Prime)|her]] [[Arcee (Prime)|team]] before he is dispatched to the area at the equator. Though he arrives at the correct coordinates, there's no relic there, but his search is interrupted by the approach of Hardshell. The Insecticon attacks Bulkhead and, after a brief exchange of words, the pair fight. Although he takes a few hits, the Wrecker flattens Hardshell, knocking a mandible off the Insecticon in the process. Bulkhead then heads downhill, realizing that an old lava flow may have taken the relic in the same direction. He keeps [[William Fowler|Agent Fowler]] updated back at base via radio. Meanwhile, Hardshell comes to and heads off with the other Insecticons to find their target.

Though leaking energon from his fight, Bulkhead manages to find the relic. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a toxic form of [[Energon]] known as [[Tox-En]], which Megatron could refine into a lethal bioweapon. Though Fowler suggests bringing it to base, Bulkhead realizes that he's going to have to dispose of it himself, "Wrecker style". Hardshell and the other Insecticons find the vessel shortly after, but as one of them goes to grab the small piece of Tox-En within, the grenade Bulkhead left behind explodes, leaving him fatally riddled with Tox-En shrapnel. Hardshell lets Megatron know about the Tox-En, but Megatron wants to know why Hardshell doesn't have the stuff yet.

Bulkhead, meanwhile, runs away from the volcano with the rest of the Tox-En, leaving a trail of leaking energon to throw off the Insecticons. As he turns and starts to head up the volcano, Bulkhead strikes up a conversation with Fowler about their past war-time careers and discovers they've more in common than they'd previously thought. However, as Bulkhead continues his journey, he begins to feel the effects of the toxic energon and almost succumbs to its spark-sapping properties. After Agent Fowler convinces him to keep going for the sake of duty and family, namely Miko, Bulkhead trudges on.

[[Image:Prime-Hardshellvolcanovent.jpg|right|250px|thumb| Hardshell [[Master Blaster|is not so easily destroyed]].]]
Meanwhile, Hardshell figures out the false trail, and he and the other Insecticons fly uphill. They catch up to Bulkhead, who has just arrived at the volcano's mouth, and surround him. Bulkhead throws a grenade at one Insecticon and jabs the Tox-En into Hardshell. The third Insecticon charges in bug mode, but Bulkhead decks it with the Tox-En and jabs the chunk into its shell before turning back to face Hardshell. Receiving the news that Miko is safe, Bulkhead begins sparring with Hardshell, though they are both now weakened from the toxic energon. Though Hardshell manages to get the better of Bulkhead, as he moves to finish the Wrecker off, Bulkhead works up the strength to throw Hardshell over to the Tox-En before flinging the monster towards a hole in the caldera crust leading down into the molten lava.  Bulkhead then throws the Tox-En to Hardshell, and the dizzied Insecticon falls into the volcano, destroying the toxic relic. As Bulkhead heads for the [[GroundBridge]], Hardshell climbs out of the volcano and shoots the Autobot in the back, sending him flying through the GroundBridge to land within the Autobot base, his back burning. Ratchet, Raf, and Fowler see the smoke coming out of Bulkhead and run to his aid.

[[Hurt|To be continued...]]

==Featured characters==

<!--There is no character named "Scurrydown". Hardshell is telling another Insecticon to "STAY down." So don't add it, or we'll give you such a pinch.-->


{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] (4)
*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (5)
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] (6)
*[[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] (7)
*[[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] (8)
|c2=
*[[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] (1)
*[[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticons]] (2)
*[[Hardshell]] (3)
*[[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] (13)
*[[Breakdown (Prime)|Breakdown]] (15) (flashback)
|c3=
*[[Miko Nakadai]] (9)
*[[Jack Darby]] (10)
*[[Raf Esquivel]] (11)
*[[William Fowler]] (12)
|c4=
*[[Scraplet]]s (14) (flashback)
}}

<!--There is no character named "Scurrydown". Hardshell is telling another Insecticon to "STAY down." So don't add it, or we'll give you such a pinch.-->

==Quotes==
"I can haz cheeseburger!"
:—Yes, '''Agent Fowler''' actually said that.


"Yeess, the Wrecker leaks from his wounds."
:—'''Hardshell''' pulling a [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] on us.


"When were you ever behind enemy lines?"<br>
"I wasn't always a 'Bot sitter."<br>
"Huh. Next you're gonna tell me that your mother doesn't tuck you in bed at night."<br>
"Not since basic training."
:—'''Bulkhead''' finds out that '''Agent Fowler''' knows things about being a soldier.


"Look soldier. You know as well as I do there's the mission. And the reason why you take the mission!..."<br>
"Honor... duty..."<br>
"Family. Which is why you need to do whatever it takes to finish this job and come home safely."
:—'''Agent Fowler''' tries to encourage a faltering '''Bulkhead'''.


"Wrecker! Put down the rock, and allow us to put you out of your misery!"<br>
(''Insecticons surround Bulkhead, who sighs and takes out a grenade'')<br>
"Gotta swat some flies..."
:—'''Hardshell''' confronts '''Bulkhead''' at the volcano's crater.


"Fowler... mission accomplished. Though you might have to... tuck me in."
:—Half-dead from Tox-En poisoning, and all '''Bulkhead''' needs is a nap? ''Hardcore''.

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
* After Hardshell punches Bulkhead during their first fight, the latter's cannons transform into maces without the usual sound effects.
* In the establishing shot of the Tox-En before the commercial break, there are two samples in the container; the larger one which Bulkhead takes with him, and the smaller one he leaves as a booby trap. After the commercial break, the same shot shows only the larger sample.
* When Megatron receives Hardshell's report on the Tox-En, [[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] is standing behind him, with his visor undamaged. This clashes with the continuity of the arc; Soundwave should either be absent from the ship (if he's still embroiled in his relic hunt) or sporting a cracked visor from his battle with [[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]], as a later scene in this episode indicates that [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] is still on his own relic hunt.
* When Bulkhead incapacitates one of the Insecticons with the Tox-En ("Here, hold this!"), it is in its beetle alt-mode. After it manages to shake to Tox-En off of its body, it is suddenly in robot mode after the shot of the crystal rolling on the ground. Although he could have transformed off screen.
* Speaking of that Insecticon, its fate is somewhat ambiguous. It falls over in a way that suggests that it's unconscious or dead, but Hardshell acts as though it is still online. Either way, it doesn't appear for the rest of the episode.

===Continuity errors===
* In "[[Triangulation]]", Bulkhead is shown running through the GroundBridge for his mission. However, in this episode he is shown just walking through the bridge.
* It has been shown previously that Insecticons have blasters, and they show awareness of Tox-En's debilitating effects on their bodies... so why don't any of them try attacking Bulkhead from range, reducing the risk of Tox-En exposure? Even if they're trying to avoid hitting the Tox-En, they could certainly at least flank Bulkhead and attack from opposite sides.
* As Fowler tries to contact Bulkhead during the battle in the volcano's caldera, we see Ratchet and Raf downloading the Iacon database in the background (as seen in [[Triage|the previous episode]]). However, when the same scene was shown in "Triage", Fowler was silent for the duration of Ratchet and Raf's conversation.

===Continuity notes===
* This is the final episode of the four-part relic-hunting arc, all four parts of which happen concurrently. This episode focuses on Bulkhead and Fowler. Fowler's handling of [[Vogel]] in "[[Tunnel Vision]]" and the Antarctic research base in "[[Triangulation]]" are shown from his point of view. Raf is also seen programming the virus that Ratchet installs in [[Laserbeak (Prime)|Laserbeak]] in "[[Triage]]". The ending scene is the same as in "Triage".
* The room currently occupied by the Insecticon hive was previously used to store [[Dark Energon]] way back in "[[Darkness Rising, Part 2]]".
* During Bulkhead's first fight with Hardshell, the Insecticon delivers an attack that looks eerily similar to how [[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] killed [[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]]. The actual hit is obscured (the camera is set behind Hardshell), but it doesn't seem to do any visible damage (although this could be why Bulkhead was leaking energon after the fight). At the end of the fight, meanwhile, Bulkhead clocks Hardshell with a wicked uppercut, knocking off one of his mandibles. The scene plays out in a suspiciously similar fashion to how [[Cliffjumper (Prime)|Cliffjumper]] lost one of his horns to a [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]] in "[[Darkness Rising, Part 1]]"; the mandible even sticks point-first in the ground.
* Fowler makes mention of his old Army Ranger days, which he first mentioned in "[[Nemesis Prime (episode)|Nemesis Prime]]".
* Bulkhead flashes back to scenes from previous episodes when Fowler is trying to get him to continue the mission. First, he remembers several instances where his life was threatened, including:
**Leading [[Scraplet]]s through the GroundBridge into the Arctic in "[[Scrapheap (episode)|Scrapheap]]".
**Getting his Energon drained by the [[Energon Harvester|energon harvester]] in "[[Deus ex Machina]]".
**Clashing with [[Breakdown (Prime)|Breakdown]] in "[[Out of His Head]]".
**Getting blown back by the malfunctioning GroundBridge in "[[Shadowzone (episode)|Shadowzone]]".
**Protecting Miko from falling rocks in "[[Rock Bottom]]".
**Clashing with Breakdown in "[[Operation: Breakdown]]".
**Being wired to one of [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]]'s bombs in "[[Loose Cannons]]". 
**Getting attacked by Scraplets in "Scrapheap".
* Shortly after the above, Bulkhead remembers several interactions with Miko, including:
**Miko assuring him that she's protected before Bulkhead heads down a slope in "[[Darkness Rising, Part 3]]".
**Bulkhead showing Miko a new battle scar in "[[Metal Attraction]]".
**Miko revealing herself from inside Bulkhead's chest in "[[Darkness Rising, Part 4]]".
**Bulkhead trying to dissuade Miko from using him as a role model in "Deus ex Machina".
**An exhausted Miko trying to clear rubble in "[[Rock Bottom]]".
**Miko trying to get an amnesiac Bulkhead to remember her in "[[T.M.I.]]".
* Bulkhead's tactic of hiding a grenade in the Tox-En container is similar to the one proposed by Wheeljack in "Triage". Wrecker style, indeed.

===Transformers references===
* Hardshell is the modern name for the G1 Insecticon [[Bombshell (G1)|Bombshell]].
* During Bulkhead's flashback to the victims of Megatron's refined Tox-En weapon, one of the corpses in the foreground looks a lot like [[Ironhide (Animated)|an Ironhide from another continuity]]. The reddish one behind it looks similar to the [[generic]] impaled by Megatron during Ratchet's flashback to the beginning of the Great War in "[[One Shall Rise, Part 3]]".
* Green-tinted energon that emits visible fumes and is toxic to Cybertronians was previously seen in ''[[Transformers: Energon (cartoon)| Energon]]''. Given Bulkhead's flashback, Megatron's refined, weaponized version of Tox-En may be a small-scale version of the energon gas that plagued that series' version of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]].

===Real-world references===
* While still recovering from the shock he received in "[[Flying Mind]]", Fowler blurts out "I can has cheeseburger", a popular cat-based internet meme.
* Considering its green coloration, mineral-like composition, and fatal effects from prolonged exposure, Tox-En is essentially Cybertronian Kryptonite.

===Trivia===
* Apparently, Bulkhead has been inside Decepticon barracks at some point (possibly on a mission for the Wreckers back on Cybertron). They are very, very smelly, but not as much as the landscape near an active volcano.
* In the past, the Wreckers have generally been a small, closely knit unit (despite their horrific attrition rates).  However, Hardshell's comment that he's faced Wreckers numerous times suggests the team is much larger in the Aligned continuity.
* Bulkhead tells Fowler that the relic would likely survive a dip in molten rock while hunting for it in a cooled lava flow. Not only is this technically untrue (the Tox-En only survived its fall due to its container), but a drop into lava is exactly how Bulkhead disposes of the relic in the end.
* Despite having at least one more grenade on his person, Bulkhead doesn't attempt to leave the entire Tox-En cache in his Insecticon trap. Presumably, it wouldn't have been enough to completely destroy the toxic fuel, or it wouldn't have fit in the canister, giving Hardshell's team warning that something was up.
* Bulkhead finally finds something even ''worse'' than Scraplets. Incidentally, he saw the effects of both Scraplets and Tox-En during the war, and neither was a pleasant experience. 
[[Category:Prime episodes]]