Editing Plus One (Prime)

{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 59
|prev=Chain of Command (Prime)
|next=Thirst
|image=PlusOne-notdating.jpg
|caption=So, you come here often?<br>''I'm getting so damn tired of that joke''!
|title="Plus One"
|airdate=[[May 31]], [[2013]]
|written by=[[Greg Weisman]]
|directed by=[[Todd Waterman]]
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''While on a mission to gather a Predacon bone relic, Agent Fowler finds himself in a tight squeeze with Jack's mother.'''

==Synopsis==
[[Image:PlusOne-surrounded.jpg|left|thumb|300px|You must be new here if you thought those guys would actually pose a threat.]]
[[Raf Esquivel|Raf]] picks up a signal from [[Scotland]] and [[GroundBridge]]s [[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]] back to the [[Autobot]] base. [[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]] asks why he's returned alone, and Wheeljack disdainfully notes that the mission was a failure, and that the rest of his team will be returning via [[Ultra Magnus's ship]]. [[William Fowler|Fowler]] emerges from his office with reports of [[Decepticon]] activity in [[New Mexico]]. With [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus Prime's]] team still in [[Texas]] and the rest of the [[Wrecker]]s still en route, that leaves Arcee and Wheeljack to continue the hunt for [[Predacon (Prime)|Predacon]] remains. They bridge to Fowler's coordinates and end up right in the middle of a squadron of [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s. The two Autobots take them out quickly, impressing one another with their skills.

[[June Darby|June]] arrives at the Autobot base to pick up medical supplies being donated by Fowler, who asks her to call him "William". Raf announces that he's discovered a Predacon talon in a museum, kept in storage because scientists didn't know how to classify it. Fowler volunteers to retrieve the fossil, and invites June to accompany him. She's reluctant at first, but is angered by the hypocrisy in [[Jack Darby|Jack]] forbidding her from endangering herself, and agrees to go.

On the outer hull of the ''[[Trypticon (WFC)|Nemesis]]'', [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] praises his [[Predaking (Prime)|new pet]] for successfully retrieving the fossil from Scotland. [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] reports the discovery of another Predacon energy signature, and Megatron orders him to acquire it. [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] arrives to mock Knock Out, but Megatron halts their bickering by telling Starscream to take Knock Out's place on monitor duty. As Megatron and Knock Out return inside the ship, a frustrated Starscream kicks the Predacon's tail. The beast responds with a vicious tail swipe that narrowly misses Starscream and wrecks the ship's communications array.

In a cave in New Mexico, Arcee inquires as to Wheeljack's foul mood. Wheeljack tries to brush off her questions, but Arcee persists, claiming that she knows Wheeljack only pretends to prefer working solo.

Fowler and June emerge from the museum with the Predacon talon in tow, joking about the experience and comparing past relationships. Their bonding is interrupted by the arrival of Knock Out, who renders them unconscious with a beam of light. They awake in the [[Decepticon]]'s trunk moments before he speeds off into the desert, leaving June's cell phone crushed on the ground. Knock Out attempts to request a GroundBridge, but is unable to make contact with the base.

On the ''Nemesis'', Starscream rants about the Predacon disabling their communications network while a couple of Vehicons attempt to repair it. Starscream enters an override code into a nearby computer console to reboot the system, but this only produces a shower of sparks.

Jack is worrying about how long his mother is taking when he receives a call from [[Miko Nakadai|Miko]]. She says that [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] is worried about Wheeljack, and Jack explains that he's on a mission with Arcee. Miko is annoyed that Wheeljack would replace Bulkhead so quickly, but also admits that she expected the two lone wolves to hook up.

June and Fowler bicker within Knock Out's trunk until the Decepticon tells them to stifle themselves. He continues to attempt communication with the ''Nemesis'', and June and Fowler begin devising an escape plan. 

While digging in the cave walls, Wheeljack reveals to Arcee that Bulkhead, not [[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]], is the source of his current frustration. He feels his onetime partner has gone soft. Arcee tells him that people change and he has to either adapt or rust. She knows [[Tailgate (Prime)|from]] [[Cliffjumper (WFC)|experience]] the pain of losing a partner.

[[File:PlusOne-snatched.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Now kiss!]]

Fowler emerges from Knock Out's trunk and into his vehicle interior, forcing the startled Decepticon to stop at a railroad yard by twisting his steering wheel and slamming on the break. June races from the car with the Predacon talon and Fowler flees in the opposite direction. Knock Out transforms and quickly finds Fowler hiding amongst the freight cars. He grabs Fowler and threatens to kill him if June doesn't reveal herself and the talon.

Jack tries calling his mother and Fowler, but both of their phones go straight to voicemail. Raf innocently suggests they went to a movie.

As he lugs a Predacon spine out of the cave, Wheeljack admits that he was wrong to abandon Bulkhead like he did. Arcee receives a distress call from Jack, who is now in the museum parking lot holding his mother's crushed phone and watching a set of tire tracks lead into the desert.

At the train yard, Knock Out notices a railcar pull away, revealing a defiant June. She tells Knock Out that she hid the fossil in one of the cars, and will only tell him which after he's let Fowler go. Knock Out realizes the fossil is most likely on the departing train car, grabs June, and heads after it.

On the ''Nemesis'', a furious Megatron discovers that communications have been down for hours. No sooner does [[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]] get the network back online than Knock Out calls again, reporting that he has the Predacon bone in his sights and Wheeljack and Arcee on his tail.

A squad of [[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticons]] are GroundBridged to Knock Out's location and open fire on the pursuing Autobots. Wheeljack and Arcee fight back but continue to move forward. Knock Out reaches the freight car where the bone is hidden and launches himself into the air, transforming to robot mode as he does and letting June and Fowler drop. Below, Wheeljack transforms into robot mode, catches them, and transforms back into vehicle mode with the humans inside. Knock Out snatches the fossil and makes it through the Decepticon GroundBridge before Arcee can catch him.

At the Autobot base, Jack is relieved to see his mother, but less excited that she's taken to calling Fowler "Bill". Miko teases that Jack has also lost his Autobot partner to Wheeljack. But Wheeljack and Bulkhead quickly make up, much to Miko and Jack's delight.

Back at the ''Nemesis'', Megatron congratulates Knock Out and chastises Starscream. While Starscream again blames the Predacon's bestial stupidity, the so-called beast is busy entering Starscream's access code into the computer console from earlier, calling up the ship's information on Predacons.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]] (3)
*[[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]] (4)
*[[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] (5)
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] (14)
*[[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]] (15)

|c2=
*[[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s (7)
*[[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] (9)
*[[Predaking (Prime)|Predaking]] (10)
*[[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] (11)
*[[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] (12)
*[[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]] (16)
*[[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticons]] (17)

|c3=
*[[Raf Esquivel]] (1)
*[[Jack Darby]] (2)
*[[William Fowler]] (6)
*[[June Darby]] (8)
*[[Miko Nakadai]] (13)

}}

==Quotes==
"I wondered what was taking so long with those sodas."
:—'''Raf''' has gotten used to Miko's disappearances.


"I didn't choose 'emergency' as my vehicle mode for laughs."
:—'''Ratchet''', the Autobots' secret weapon.


'''Wheeljack''': Know what I love most about Vehicon troopers?<br/>
'''Arcee''': They're easily distracted.
:—'''Wrecker Fact''' #[Insert Number Here] on henchbots.


"I'll have you know, Nurse Darby, I was an [[United States Army|Army Ranger]] and federal agent for [[Unit:E]] three decades before I ever heard the ''name'' 'Optimus Prime'."
:—'''Agent Fowler''' gives June his credentials.


'''Megatron''': Knock Out, do not return empty-handed.<br/>
'''Knock Out''': Moi? Don't know the meaning of the word.<br/>
'''Starscream''': Isn't 'empty-handed' two words?<br/>
'''Knock Out''': You would know. Or did your [[Apex Armor (Prime)|missing armor]] turn up?
:—'''Knock Out''' and '''Starscream''' try to impress the boss with a game of "so there"s.


"Knock Out to Lord Megatron. I have secured one vintage Predacon talon. Plus, two of the Autobots' pets, for you to employ as hostages, lab experiments...well, any way you see fit. So go on, Big M, tell me you love me more than Starscream."<br/>
''[Comm static]''<br/>
"My liege? Hello?"<br/>
''[More static]''<br/>
"Too familiar?"
:—'''Knock Out''' gets the wrong idea from the communications blackout.


"Frankly, I find it ''repulsive''. The whole ''idea'' of you fleshies...''[[Reproduction|interfacing]]''." ''[Shudders]''
:—'''Knock Out''' does not approve of humans [[Powerlinx]]ing.


"Bromance trumps romance." 
:— '''Jack''' has it figured out.

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
* Knock Out's jump over the train is awkwardly animated, to say the least. He rolls up the incline to the tracks, floats upward and rotates to his side when he should have barreled into the train, releases June and Fowler by transforming (and has somehow righted himself in the process), then grabs the bone and lands again.
* June Darby's car only has one working headlight when she arrives at the base.

===Continuity errors===
* The communication dish on the flight deck of the ''Nemesis'' didn't exist prior to this episode. In addition, it is initially shown to be on the port side of the vessel, but is on the starboard side (and facing the opposite direction) when Soundwave is working on it.
* Predaking copies Starscream's override code to access the communication array, but he was on the wrong side of the dish to see it when Starscream first used it.

===Continuity notes===
* Optimus Prime's unit went to '[[Texas|oil country]]' in "[[Project Predacon]]".
* Wheeljack ditched his unit, the Decepticons recovered the Predacon fossil, and Starscream lost the Apex Armor in "[[Chain of Command (Prime)|Chain of Command]]".
* Jack traveled to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], much to his mother's discomfort, in "[[Orion Pax, Part 2]]".
* The complex equation Ratchet refers to is more than likely the [[Synthetic Energon|synthetic energon]] formula, which he's been trying to recreate since "Project Predacon".
* Arcee still has the laser weapon she took from Ultra Magnus's arsenal in "[[Rebellion (Prime)|Rebellion]]".
* The files accessed by Predaking are the same primitive renditions of Predacons that Ratchet showed to the others in "Project Predacon".
* While bickering, Starscream calls Knock Out a "wheel-bound" something (before Megatron cuts him off). He showed disdain for Knock Out's choice of alt-mode back in "[[Deus ex Machina]]".
* The museum in which Fowler and June find the Predacon talon appears to be the same one in which the Autobots found the Energon Harvester in "[[Deus ex Machina]]".

===Transformers references===
* Megatron refers to his upcoming Predacon army as [[Beast Machines: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Machine]] super-soldiers.

===Cultural references===
* [[Unit:E]] is a reference to an organization in a 2011 comic book titled "Unit:E" published by Hasbro, uniting characters from series such as ''[[Jem]]'', ''[[Micronauts]]'' and so on.
* Fowler refers to Warren Gamaliel Harding, who was [[President of the United States]] when the Predacon talon was excavated in 1922.

===Trivia===
* This is the first (aired) Transformers story written by popular animation writer and producer Greg Weisman.
* Vehicons are named for the first time within the series.
* Pepper spray apparently works on [[Sensors#Optical sensors|optic sensors]], just not nearly as long as it does on humans.
* Wheeljack's and Arcee's claim that the Vehicons are easily distracted is more obvious than it first appears, since they have Arcee and Wheeljack trapped yet just stand there while the former slowly tosses the latter into the air. Even after this they seem to pay no attention to the fight, and appear to barely wish to engage in combat, with extremely sluggish attacks and little, if any, return fire.
* Knockout seems to be extremely adept with human catchphrases and terms, even with those he finds, 'repulsive'....and some French....
* The children finally appear to have chosen a new game to play in their spare time, as opposed to the cumbersome race car game with bad graphical animations that they used to previously contest each other in.
[[Category:Prime episodes]]