Editing Thirst

{{episode|
|otherseries=''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' ep 60
|prev=Plus One
|next=Evolution
|image=ThristEpisodeConZombie.jpg
|caption=There were demons in the base. He didn't see them, but had expected them now for years. His warnings to Cernel Joson were not listenend to and now it was too late. Far too late for now, anyway.
|title="Thirst"
|airdate=[[June 7]], [[2013]]
|written by=[[Marsha Griffin]]
|directed by=[[Scooter Tidwell]]
|animation studio=[[Polygon Pictures]]
|production company=[[Hasbro Studios]]
}}

'''Knock Out and Starscream's experiment with synthetic energon threatens to take over the Decepticon ship and unleash an old enemy.'''

==Synopsis==
[[File:Thirst1.jpg|left|thumb|300px|When he was young he watched the spaceships and he said to dad "I want to be on the ships daddy."<br><br>
Dad said "No! You will BE KILL BY DEMONS"]]

In [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]]'s lab, [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] bemoans his current situation, having to compete with [[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]] for [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]]'s favor. His whining is interrupted by moans from [[Silas|Cylas]], who is strapped to a table and begging to be freed. Knock Out injects him with a derivative of the [[Synthetic Energon|synthetic energon]] he recovered from the [[Autobot]]s. The compound drives Cylas into a rage, which Knock Out notes is one of its erratic side effects. Starscream sees in Cylas' fury the makings of a super-soldier for Megatron.

Starscream attempts to inform Megatron of this discovery, but the [[Decepticon]] leader is only interested in discussing the status of the [[Predacon (Prime)|Predacon]] [[protoform]]s with Shockwave, who is reporting in from his off-site lab. Brushed off by his leader as unimportant, Starscream sulks on his way back to Knock Out's lab.

Cylas becomes more enraged with each new injection of Synth En. Knock Out discovers that the more the compound is administered, the faster Cylas burns through his own natural [[energon]] reserves. Starscream cannot see the use of having [[Predaking (Prime)|another]] unruly beast that can't be controlled, but then has an idea: [[Dark Energon]]. Knock Out objects, noting that the "Blood of [[Unicron]]" once turned their own ship against them, and that he would need approval from Shockwave in any case. Starscream assures the doctor that a controlled, minimal injection will merely place Cylas under Megatron's command, via their leader's symbiotic link with the substance, then asserts that "super-soldiers" are a military concern and thus fall under ''his'' jurisdiction.

Under orders and under protest, Knock Out injects Cylas with the Dark Energon-enhanced formula. Cylas temporarily powers down before rebooting in a rage and breaking free from his bonds. But after only a few steps, he crumbles to his knees, desperately low on energon. Then with a fierce roar, his lower jaw splits into monstrous mandibles and a long, bladed tongue emerges, which he attempts to use on Starscream to drain him of energon. Unable to subdue him, Starscream and Knock Out flee down the halls of the ship.

Once a safe distance away, Knock Out suggests sounding the alarm. Starscream disagrees, not wanting Megatron to learn of their actions. He claims that once Cylas attempts to feed upon the ship's highly-trained [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]] troopers, they will take care of the threat.

Elsewhere, one of the Vehicons stumbles upon Cylas, who grabs the highly-trained trooper and begins draining his energon.

Starscream and Knock Out plan the disposal of Cylas' corpse when they find the Vehicon's corpse instead. While the two argue about who's to blame for their predicament, the dead Vehicon is reanimated by the Dark Energon in its system as a [[Terrorcon (Prime)|Terrorcon]] and reveals the same segmented jaw and bladed tongue that Cylas had. Starscream's blaster fire only staggers it, and Knock Out suggests destroying the Terrorcon's head, inspired by Human horror movies. Though Starscream's missile is successful in decapitating the creature, it doesn't stop it in the least, as the body lumbers forward with the tongue sticking out of the hole where the head used to be. A concentrated volley of blasts to the Vehicon's chest destroys the monster's revitalized spark, severing its link to the Dark Energon.

Knock Out posits that Cylas could infect the entire crew in the same manner, a theory that's borne out when they find themselves pursued by multiple energy-draining Terrorcons. Starscream and Knock Out lock themselves in a comm room to get a breather and assess the situation. Accepting that this may be the end, the two Decepticons exchange some awkward final pleasantries and step back into the hall…

…Right into Megatron, who demands to know why the Dark Energon in his spark has been acting strangely as of late. Starscream provides a slanted explanation, but Megatron doesn't believe it until he's forced to destroy an attacking Terrorcon.

After a more extensive debrief of the situation, Megatron puts the ship on high alert and orders Starscream and Knock Out to seek and destroy Cylas. Around the ship, Vehicons and [[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticons]] battle the infected Terrorcons.

Cylas wanders into the ship's vault. Sensing energon within a [[stasis pod]], he breaks it open, freeing and reviving [[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]]. Cylas attempts to drain her energon, though she ''barely'' ducks out of the way of his tongue, and a short battle ensues, but Airachnid is able to immobilize him with webbing long enough to deliver a fatal wound; ripping "[[Breakdown (WFC)|Breakdown]]" open in order to destroy his spark and make ''sure'' he's dead this time, Airachnid instead finds the mutilated real body of Cylas, who survives just long enough to thank her for freeing him from his tortured existence before dying. She immediately re-establishes her telepathic control over the Insecticons and commands them to return to her. Their sudden departure is noticed by [[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]]. 

Starscream and Knock Out discover Cylas' corpse. Starscream is elated until Knock Out points out Airachnid's destroyed prison, followed by Megatron demanding a status update.

[[File:Thirst-Airachnidzombie.jpg|thumb|right|300px|And then John was a zombie.]]

Airachnid leads the Insecticons through the halls of the ship, ordering them to wipe out every Decepticon aboard. At the end of the hall, Soundwave calmly steps forward to face them. The bug-bots attack, and Soundwave opens a [[space bridge]] directly in front of him at the last second. Before they can react, Airachnid and the Insecticons are teleported away. As the bridge closes behind her, Airachnid realizes that they have been sent to a moon orbiting the abandoned [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] and screams in rage.

Aboard the ''[[Trypticon (WFC)|Nemesis]]'', Megatron contacts Shockwave again to inform him they're implementing his containment protocol to prevent further outbreak. He also tells Shockwave to speed up the Predacon cloning project, as they have now lost more than half their military forces. Knock Out is sternly reminded that he is the ship's ''medic'' under Shockwave's command, and is forced to turn over all of his experimental projects to the scientist. Megatron then turns to Starscream, intent on teaching him a lesson the only way that seems to get through to him...

Back on the moon, an '''infected''' Airachnid drains the energon from one of her minions as the rest of the Insecticons line up obediently to await their turn.
{{-}}

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
|c2=
*[[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] (1)
*[[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] (2)
*[[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] (4)
*[[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicon]]s (5)
*[[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]] (6)
*[[Insecticon (Prime)|Insecticons]] (7)
|c3=
|c4=
*[[Silas|Cylas]] (3)
*[[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]] (8)
}}

==Quotes==

'''Megatron''': ''[Talking to Shockwave over comm]'' Tell me of the Predacon protoforms. What is the status of their incubation? Mm-hm. Uh-huh.<br>
'''Starscream''': Master, if I do say so myself, I have made the most intriguing discovery. It appears that--<br>
'''Megatron''': Not now! ''[Back to Shockwave]'' Please continue, Shockwave. No, no one important.
:—Megatron doesn't like to be interrupted when he's on the phone.


'''Starscream''': Megatron will undoubtedly hold us responsible.<br>
'''Knock Out''': But...WE ARE!<br>
'''Starscream''': Well, you are, mostly.
:—Starscream blames someone else, news at 11.


"Aim for the head!"<br/>
"What? How do you know?"<br/>
"I've seen human horror films." ''[Starscream looks at him curiously]'' "At drive-in theaters!"
:—'''Knock Out''' schools '''Starscream''' on how to survive a zombie apocalypse.


"I find it rather ironic that after battling Autobots all these years, getting smacked down, shot at, blown up, ''this'' is how our lights go out?"<br/>
"Drained of our precious fluids. If this is indeed the end, if we are to become Terrorcon-chow, it has been an honor serving Lord Megatron with you."<br/>
"You're no Breakdown. Though I must confess, I have always admired your lustrous finish."<br/>
''[Awkward pause]''<br/>
"''*mm-hmm*'' Well, then."<br/>
"Should be going."
:—'''Knock Out''' and '''Starscream''' begin a beautiful friendship… and remind us of [[Arcee (WFC)|some]][[Optimus Prime (WFC)|one's]] words on [[Scrapheap (episode)|another day]].


'''Megatron''': Would either of you like to tell me what exactly is going on? <br/>
'''Starscream''': Yes, absolutely nothing, my liege. <br/>
'''Knock Out''': All is quiet, too quiet. One could even say dull!<br/>
'''Megatron''': Funny, because the Dark Energon within my spark has been pulsing.<br/>
'''Starscream''': (To Knock Out) Allow me to handle this. (To Megatron) IT'S KNOCK OUT'S FAULT!<br/>
'''Knock Out''': Precisely my-WHAT?!
:—Knock Out somehow manages to be surprised by Starscream yet again passing the buck.


"Silas? Whatever have they done to you? But more importantly, thank you for freeing me."<br/>
"No. Thank…you… ''[Dies]''<br/>
"Whatever."
:—'''Airachnid''' is unmoved by '''Cylas'''' final words.


"Soundwave! I vow that on this day, the world will hear the sound of your screams."
:—'''Airachnid's''' mouth writes a check that her abdomen can't cash.

==Notes==
===Animation and technical errors===
* Airachnid lost one of her spider legs to the closing pod door when she was put in stasis, but all six are intact in this episode.
* Starscream's missile cleanly beheads a Vehicon, leaving no burn marks or exposed circuitry of any kind. For that matter, the headless Vehicon reveals that there is no "joint" on the model for the head to attach to, just a completely flat surface with a hole for the tongue. You normally don't see it because the neck just goes straight into the base of the collar, as if the collar form-fits around the neck.

===Continuity errors===
* Knock Out discusses the events of "[[Stronger, Faster]]" and "[[Flying Mind]]" with Starscream, even though Starscream wasn't part of the Decepticon ranks when either took place. While it is conceivable that Starscream learned of the events of both episodes through the ship's logs or another source, Knock Out speaks as if they were both witness to them.

===Continuity notes===
* ''Yowza'', this would be a tough episode to start watching the series.
* Airachnid was frozen in stasis in "[[Armada (episode)|Armada]]" and was retrieved from the Autobot base by the Decepticons in "[[Darkmount, NV]]".
* The [[polarity gauntlet]] can be seen in the vault, in the first of the five containment fields. It was left on Cybertron by [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]] in "[[Darkest Hour (episode)|Darkest Hour]]", and can be assumed to have been recovered by Knock Out's salvage team offscreen in "Darkmount, NV". This leaves only the [[Immobilizer]] unaccounted for.
* [[Silas]], the formerly 100% human commander of [[MECH]], was surgically combined with Breakdown's corpse in "[[The Human Factor]]". He changed his name to Cylas (Cybernetic Life Augmented by Symbiosis) and became a reluctant guest of the Decepticons in the same episode.
* Cylas (then Silas) entered into a partnership of convenience with Starscream in "[[Operation Bumblebee, Part 1]]" and conveniently stole his [[transformation cog|T-cog]] in "[[Operation Bumblebee, Part 2]]".
* Cylas (then Silas) once had Breakdown pinned to his operating table in "[[Operation: Breakdown]]".
* Knock Out recovered some of [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]]'s synthetic energon in "[[Stronger, Faster]]".
* Shockwave has been working from an off-site laboratory since "[[Chain of Command (Prime)|Chain of Command]]".
* Megatron previously used Dark Energon to reanimate and control the dead in "[[Darkness Rising, Part 3]]".
* Dark Energon awakened a dangerous, self-serving intelligence within the Decepticon warship in "[[Flying Mind]]".
* Cylas' eyes turn green, then purple, when he is injected with synthetic energon and Dark Energon, respectively. This is consistent with previous applications of the substances. ("[[Stronger, Faster]]", "[[Darkness Rising, Part 3]]")
* Airachnid killed Breakdown and discovered her telepathic control of the Insecticons in "[[Crossfire]]".
* Airachnid knows Cylas (then Silas) from their brief partnership in "[[Crisscross]]".
* Airachnid's desire to have Soundwave scream likely stems from the very one-sided beatdown she received from him in "[[One Shall Rise, Part 3]]".
* Starscream refers to the Decepticon soldiers as "Vehicons" confirming it as their real designation. [[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]] previously used that term in to describe them in "[[Plus One]]"
* Megatron alludes to the beatings he bestowed on Starscream in "[[Darkness Rising, Part 4]]" and in-between the episodes "[[Out of His Head]]" and "[[Shadowzone (episode)|Shadowzone]]" when he prepares to punish Starscream "the only way he understands".
* Starscream took a fragment of Dark Energon and used it to raise [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] from the dead as his first "re-animated warrior" in [[Shadowzone (episode)|Shadowzone]], all of which Megatron revealed he knew about through surveillance provided by Soundwave in [[Rock Bottom]].

===Transformers references===
* Protoforms are the first stage of Transformer life in many continuities.
* Megatron again refers to his upcoming Predacon army as [[Beast Machines: Transformers (franchise)|Beast Machine]] super-soldiers.

===Real-world references===
* Knock Out's proclamation of "It's alive" echoes the famous words spoken in ''[[Frankenstein]]''.
* In addition to the segmented jaw and barbed tongue, the Terrorcons' [[teeth]] also transform into vampiric fangs.
* As Knock Out indicated, destroying the head is the traditional way to kill zombies in many horror movies. But only human ones. 
* This episode heavily pays homage to the 1985 zombie film ''The Return of the Living Dead'' where two humans (Frank and Freddie) cause a gas to spread across a cemetery that revives dead corpses into zombies and then plays comedy with the two trying to control the situation while blaming each other for the zombie apocalypse, much like Starscream and Knock Out in this episode. The zombies in ''The Return of the Living Dead'' couldn't be killed by headshots, either.
* There is also some homage to the film ''Blade II'', specifically in the physiological effects of the virus. The Reapers, genetically-engineered vampire mutants, possessed the same type of unfolding jaw and feeding tendril, as well as a greatly increased blood appetite due to a heightened metabolism.
* Knock Out places his fingers on the neck of the first Vehicon that fell victim to Cylas to check for life signs. This is often done to test a seriously injured person for a [[wikipedia:pulse|pulse]] in their [[wikipedia:carotid artery|carotid artery]].

===Trivia===
* This is the first episode which doesn't feature the [[Autobot]]s in any capacity. Previously, "[[Patch (episode)|Patch]]", the last Decepticon-centric episode, had flashbacks which contained Autobots even though none appeared in person. [[Peter Cullen]], however, gets to voice the zombified Vehicon trooper Megatron puts down.
* Starscream says that the ship is crawling with "highly-trained Vehicon troopers". Kinda makes you wonder what a poorly-trained one is like, huh?
* On-the-move teleportation seems as if it's becoming Soundwave's signature move, having used it to dispatch [[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]] in "[[Orion Pax, Part 1]]" and to claim the Predacon fossil in "[[Project Predacon]]".
* [[Steve Blum]] is credited as "Insecticon #1" instead of [[Bombshock (Prime)|Bombshock]] this time.
* The last thing Silas/Cylas did to Starscream was knock him out and steal his T-Cog, so it's no surprise Starscream has no desire to help him at the beginning of the episode.
* Starscream alludes to having collected "dozens of Predacon bones", and Shockwave has already grown a batch of protoforms. This implies a significant timeskip between this episode and the last, since Shockwave had only just just established an off-site laboratory in "[[Chain of Command (Prime)|Chain of Command]]" and "[[Plus One]]" takes place immediately after that episode. Furthermore, the amount of bones collected, assuming it's not hyperbole on Starscream's part, suggests a rather bad run of luck for the Autobots.
* While there have been several offscreen and implied deaths of humans in ''Transformers Prime'', this is the first full "watch the light die from his eye" death, not only in ''Prime'' but in western Transformers animation.
* Though Megatron is already angry enough at him, Starscream's actions in this episode end up having much worse consequences then they first appear. Not only do the Decepticons lose the Insecticons and more than half of the Vehicons, but this leads to Shockwave speeding up Project Predacon, which is on the verge of completion once Predaking reveals his sentience in [[Evolution|the next episode]]. This sparks their plot to kill the Predacon clones, which not only leads to the eventual reconstruction of the [[Omega Lock]] - which will revive Bumblebee and allow him to kill Megatron in the [[Deadlock (episode)|series finale]] - but Ratchet [[Synthesis|later]] revealing it to Predaking and uses it to turn him against them, depleting their troops even further and allowing the Autobots to storm the ''Nemesis''. It's a bit of a stretch, but Starscream in this episode sets off a chain of events that lead to the Decepticons losing the war! Hope he has fun putting that on his résumé.
[[Category:Prime episodes]]