Editing Inside Job

{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 49
|prev=Hard Knocks
|next=Patch (episode)
|image=InsideJobKnockOutSmokescreen.jpg
|caption=Having fun, Knock Out?
|title="Inside Job"
|airdate=[[October 12]], [[2012]]
|written by=[[Bob Skir|Robert N. Skir]]
|directed by=[[Scooter Tidwell]]
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''When Smokescreen is captured, he learns the location of the Omega Key and attempts to retrieve all the other stolen keys.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] recovers consciousness to find himself on a slab in the [[Trypticon (Prime)|Decepticon warship]] with [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] standing over him. [[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] demands the final relic, pointing out [[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]]'s work decrypting the Iacon database has revealed an image of Smokescreen, but Smokescreen is merely confused as to what it means. Knock Out scans the [[Autobot]], and finds the last relic is hidden inside.

The other Autobots, meanwhile, realize that the Decepticons must have decoded the last coordinates and speculate that Smokescreen holds the [[Omega Key]] inside him, largely due to being installed within him while unconscious by [[Alpha Trion (Prime)|Alpha Trion]].

Knock Out advances on the alarmed Smokescreen with a rotary saw, only to reveal he's actually going to use the [[phase shifter]] to do the operation. He reaches inside Smokescreen and soon has the Omega Key in hand. Smokescreen refuses to tell the Decepticons what the Omega Keys are, but Megatron has ways of finding out.

[[Image:InsideJobStarscream.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Cue evil laugh in 3, 2, 1...]] 
[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] ruminates on the one Omega Key he possesses, while talking to his [[Starscream clone (Prime)|dead clone]]. Imagining himself in charge of a reborn [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], he quickly realizes that he doesn't have the resources he would need to rule it.

Megatron listens in on Prime's briefing about the Omega Keys, thanks to a [[cortical psychic patch]] hooked up to Smokescreen. Once they've learned all they need, Knock Out unplugs the pair and Megatron orders Knock Out to use the patch to find the location of the [[Autobot Outpost Omega One|Autobot base]] so they can retrieve the other Omega Keys. After Megatron leaves to put their new key in a safe place, Knock Out moves in, only for Smokescreen to grab the phase shifter attached to his wrist and uses it to free himself. The pair grapple until Smokescreen manages to pull the device from his opponent's wrist, leaving Knock Out embedded in a bulkhead. Though Knock Out points out Smokescreen has no means of escape from the ship, Smokescreen has plans of his own. Through use of the phase shifter, he manages to catch up with Megatron near the storage area, where he snatches back the Omega Key and takes the one in storage as well. The Decepticons attempt to stop him, but their firepower passes straight through him. He eventually reaches the outer hull, only to be confronted by Megatron. With no other choice, the Autobot bails the ship.

At the Autobot base, [[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] picks up Smokescreen's signal, but has trouble locking on due to the fact that Smokescreen is plummeting through the air. Harried by [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]], Smokescreen drops towards the [[GroundBridge]] Ratchet opens, only to be knocked off-course by Megatron. He uses the phase shifter to pass through the ground. Moments later, Megatron lands and demands his subordinates search the wreckage. Smokescreen bridges back to base, where the Autobots congratulate him, but wonder where the fourth key is. Their query is answered a moment later when they get a message from Starscream offering the key in return for the replacement of his [[transformation cog|T-Cog]]. Having considered it, [[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] decides it's too important to not take Starscream up on his offer.

Optimus, Ratchet and [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] bridge to a forested location and approach Starscream, only to find him apparently dead. It is, of course, just the dead clone, as the real Starscream uses his [[Red Energon]] to nip through the GroundBridge into the Autobot base. Moving too fast to be seen, he is tempted at first to finish off the slow-moving Autobots, but goes back to finding the Omega Keys first. The Autobots in the field realize they've been deceived just as Starscream blows open the vault holding the keys. Though Optimus orders [[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] to close the GroundBridge, it is too slow to prevent Starscream from escaping the base. He stops to mock Optimus, Ratchet and Bulkhead, only for the Red Energon to wear off right at the worst possible moment. After firing a missile at the Autobots, he frantically opens his own GroundBridge and escapes back to the ''[[Harbinger]]'', much to Optimus's despair. Though Bulkhead and Ratchet believe they can get the keys back Optimus grimly announces the fate of Cybertron is now in Starscream's hands.

[[Image:InsideJobKnockOut.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Well, this is awkward.]]
Despite Knock Out's pleas, Megatron refuses to release him from the wall. Megatron and [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] return to the bridge, where they find Starscream who has come with a peace offering of all four Omega Keys.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] (2)
*[[Ratchet (Prime)|Ratchet]] (5)
*[[Arcee (Prime)|Arcee]] (6)
*[[Optimus Prime (Prime)|Optimus Prime]] (7)
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] (8)
*[[Bumblebee (Prime)|Bumblebee]] (9)

|c2=
*[[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] (1)
*[[Megatron (Prime)|Megatron]] (3)
*[[Soundwave (Prime)|Soundwave]] (4)
*[[Starscream (Prime)|Starscream]] (10)
*[[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]] (11)
*[[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticon]] (12)
*[[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]] (13)
*[[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] (14)

}}

==Quotes==
"Trippy."
:—'''Knock Out''' thinks the phase shifter is like, totally groovy, man.


"Get your stinkin' hand out of my gears!"
:—'''Smokescreen''' obviously doesn't like operations.


"Tell me the function of these relics."<br />
"Door stop, shavers, bling? Beats me."
:—'''Megatron''' asks a question and '''Smokescreen''' gives a vague answer.


"How easy it would be to gut you [Arcee]... to gut all of you."
:—Well, '''Starscream's''' already making plans.


"Autobots, maintain positions!" (said in '''very''' slow motion)<br/>
"I'm sorry, what was that? Mblemblemble!"
:—'''Starscream''' uses the power of [[Red Energon]] to taunt '''Optimus'''.

  
[[Image:TFP Inside Job Starscream fistful of keys.jpg|thumb||250px|Beware Starscream bearing gifts...]]
"We ''will'' locate the Autobot base, invade it, and retrieve the Omega Keys!"<br/>
"Been there, done that."
:—'''Starscream''' steals '''Megatron''''s thunder.

==Notes==

===Animation and technical errors===
*Megatron's vehicle mode still has his fusion cannon, despite the arm it was attached to being removed. Furthermore, if one watches Megatron's transformation scene, it's blocked off by smoke, making it impossible to see what exactly happens with his fusion cannon and his different arm. 
*Smokescreen's momentum suddenly disappears upon phasing through the ground. Based on where he exits, he couldn't have landed much lower than the Vehicons did. Speaking of momentum, how exactly were the Autobots planning to catch Smokescreen when he came out of the GroundBridge at terminal velocity? Maybe it's part of the "intuitiveness" that allows for not phasing through floors and simultaneously reaching through objects and grabbing parts of them/items inside them?
*An early external shot of the ''[[Trypticon_(Prime)|Nemesis]]'' has its "eyes" and running lights illuminated in [[Dark Energon]] purple; later in the episode they are their normal red.
*When Knock Out removes the Omega Key from within Smokescreen, the Autobot's chest appears to be rising and falling rapidly much like a human's would when breathing harshly.

===Continuity errors===
*Given how easy it was for the Decepticons to locate the Omega Key within Smokescreen, it seems odd that the Autobots would not have made the same discovery long before now. Surely at least a basic medical workup would have been conducted upon him joining the team to check for any irregularities. To be fair, though, the Decepticons have access to a full Cybertronian medical bay, while Ratchet has to make due with what he can cobble together.
*The bots in Smokescreen's memory are in different places than in "Alpha/Omega". In that episode, Smokescreen and Rachet are on Optimus' right side, and Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee are on his left. In this episode, Bulkhead and Rachet are on his right, Bee is in the middle, and Arcee and Smokescreen are on his left.

===Continuity notes===
*This episode continues from [[Hard Knocks|the previous one]], starting not long after Smokescreen's capture and subsequent restraint.
*The [[cortical psychic patch]] is used to extract information from Smokescreen, having been used previously in "[[Sick Mind]]" and "[[Out of the Past]]".
*The scene which Megatron watches in Smokescreen's mind is from "[[Alpha/Omega]]".
*Starscream lists off numerous items he's acquired or stolen in previous episodes; the Omega Key from "Hard Knocks", the processed Red Energon (which he acquired in "[[New Recruit]]" and refined in "Hard Knocks"), his GroundBridge remote first seen in "[[Triangulation]]", his murdered clone from "[[Armada (episode)|Armada]]", and the T-cog he scavenged from said clone in "Triangulation".
*Starscream previously referred to himself as an "[[Emperor of Destruction]]" in "[[Masters & Students]]".
*Ratchet recalls Starscream's lack of a T-cog, which he learned about in "[[Crossfire]]". Starscream lost his in "[[Operation Bumblebee, Part 2]]".
* Once again, Starscream sends an embedded message to the Autobots, asking Ratchet to bring a medical kit. This time around, it didn't work out very well for the Autobots.
*Starscream still seems to be holding a grudge against Arcee from the events of "[[Partners]]", given his comments about gutting the Autobots start with her.
*While Starscream is looking for the Omega Keys in the Autobots' Vault, he comes across [[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]] in stasis, which occurred back in "[[Armada (episode)|Armada]]". The last time they interacted was in "Crossfire".
*This is the second time that Megatron abandons one of his own soldiers as a form of punishment. The first was Breakdown in "[[Operation: Breakdown]]", whom was rescued by Bulkhead and allowed back.
*Even though the [[Star Saber (Prima)|Star Saber]] was destroyed in "Alpha/Omega", Optimus still wears the hilt Ratchet made him.

===Transformers references===
* One of Starscream's self-proclaimed titles as the new ruler of Cybertron is "[[Emperor of Destruction]]". He also refers to himself as Cybertron's [[Overlord (rank)|Overlord]], which originated in the Marvel UK story [[State Games]] as the pre-war rulers of Cybertron.
*This marks the [[Retreat|second time]] that a [[Starscream (Armada)|Starscream]] managed to successfully steal three important planetary [[Cyber Planet Key|keys]] from the Autobots.

===Real-world references===
*A brain pan is real. Scientists use it to study brains of corpses without the confines of a skull.
*Arcee uses the human phrase of sounding like a broken record.

===Trivia===
*This episode explains why the phase shifter doesn't phase the user through everything, neatly tying up the issues of how it can be used with such versatility.
*While in Smokescreen's mind, Megatron's avatar has his own arm rather than the Prime's arm that he's since attached.
*This is the third episode in a row where no humans appear, the first episode in the series where we get to hear Optimus scream in frustration, and the first episode since "[[Darkness Rising, Part 1]]" to show a Vehicon in automobile mode.
*Both Optimus and Megatron scream at the loss of the Omega Keys.
*Looks like Bulkhead finally gets to see Optimus "[[One Shall Fall|lose his cool]]."
*It would seem Megatron cannot tell which of his own soldiers are fliers or ground troopers. Then again, there's not much difference in appearance.

[[Category:Prime episodes]]