Siege episode 2

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Headmasters and Jawas, together at last.
Episode 2
Production company	Allspark Animation, Rooster Teeth
Airdate	July 30, 2020 (Netflix)
Written by	F.J. DeSanto and Gavin Hignight
Director	Takashi Kamei
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures
Watch this episode on Netflix

Ultra Magnus attempts to warn the Autobots of Megatron's ultimate plan, one which could end the war once and for all.

Synopsis

Surrounded by his retinue, Megatron speaks directly to his army, commanding them to hunt down the Autobots and leave them nowhere to hide. Skywarp reports they have a visitor in the form of a lone, cloaked figure. The visitor easily swats aside an intervening Seeker, but Megatron orders the Decepticons to attack only on his signal. While Jetfire and Starscream jockey for position in handling the potential threat, the visitor makes his peaceable intent with Megatron clear by being unarmed and remaining still. To Megatron's chagrin, Barricade fires a warning shot that narrowly misses the unflinching visitor's head. The visitor comes in peace, but is no coward.

The visitor with the huge shoulders then reveals himself to be Ultra Magnus, who willingly surrenders in good faith. Magnus attempts to negotiate a peace summit between him, Megatron, and Optimus, and he calls on Megatron to recall their shared past to end hostilities. Megatron is undeterred, even upon recalling the battle of Tarn-Hauser Gate. He will not trust Magnus's intentions unless he uses his authority as Autobot military commander to order his men to stand down. When Magnus makes it clear that he will not surrender on the Autobots' behalf, he is imprisoned.

News of Magnus' surrender reaches Autobot Command in the Ark, where it soon causes tension within the ranks. Many are concerned about Magnus's loyalty or what will happen if the Decepticons can extract critical information from him, but Prime is steadfast in his belief that Magnus surrendered to end the war and would not compromise the Autobots. After establishing a tenuous calm, Optimus appoints a reluctant Elita-1 to Magnus's old post.

Meanwhile, Shockwave reveals that his studies have uncovered evidence that the legendary Allspark really exists. He asks Megatron to give the order to search for it, promising that it can be used to enslave the opposition by reprogramming them. Megatron is unwilling to commit to the plan, but will retain it as a drastic option. Magnus overhears these developments in captivity, and transmits a warning to the Autobots over his private frequency.

Inside the Ark, the Autobots remain skeptical of both the Allspark's existence and Magnus's intentions, but Prime once again insists that Magnus can be trusted. Wheeljack suggests that the Ark's sensors can be used to try to locate the Allspark, but warns that it may drain their energon reserves. Nevertheless, Prime approves the search.

Unfortunately for Magnus, Soundwave has also detected his transmission and reveals the duplicity to Megatron. He quickly turns his displeasure into a plan to trap the Autobots.

Elita and Optimus share the briefest of respites, barely having time to reflect on the current situation and their personal history. They are interrupted by a second transmission from Magnus, who reports that Megatron has already found the Allspark and relays its coordinates. Optimus orders all available teams to prep for the search, not realizing the message to be a forgery fabricated by Soundwave as bait.

Lured to Iacon, the Autobots spread out, unaware that Decepticons lurk all around them. Cog and Chromia detect what they think is the Allspark, but only find a cube of highly concentrated energon. Optimus realizes that they have been set up, but it is too late and Impactor fires a blast straight through Cog. The fight only ends when a downed Seeker careens into a building, bringing it down upon most of the Decepticons. The Autobots retreat, taking Cog to the repair bay in critical condition. Optimus remains adamant in the face of dwindling morale and orders that energon be reallocated from cloaking the Ark to searching for the Allspark.

Ravage is unable to remember where he last buried his bone.

In the aftermath of the battle, Barricade assumes command of the Decepticon unit after Impactor's arm is discovered, and he is presumed dead. Megatron holds Barricade responsible for both the loss of a valued soldier as well as the loss of energon. Shockwave infers that the Autobots cannot have the energon either, as it disappeared before they retreated.

Elsewhere, Bumblebee holds the missing energon, inspecting his prize.

His ambush foiled, Megatron returns to Magnus's cell to demand the location of Autobot headquarters. Once more, Magnus begs his former brother-in-arms to end the war peacefully and honorably, but only victory interests Megatron, and he authorizes Shockwave to implement his plan of reformatting the Autobots.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Ultra Magnus (10) Chromia (11) Hound (12) Cog (13) Optimus Prime (14) Sideswipe (15) Elita-1 (16) Red Alert (17) Wheeljack (18) Comms Officer (19) Mirage (20)	Jetfire (1) Starscream (2) Skywarp (3) Megatron (4) Barricade (5) Shockwave (6) Soundwave (7) Refraktor (8) Hotlink (9) Impactor (21) Skytread (22) Ravage (23) Spinister (24)	Bumblebee (25)

Quotes

"This was not the life I imagined for us."
"But it's a life worth fighting for."

—Elita-1 and Optimus Prime

Notes

Transformers references

• The Allspark is based on its appearance in Transformers: Cyberverse.
• Though not specifically identified as one in dialogue, the cube-shaped container holding the concentrated Energon left as bait for the Autobots is based on the appearance of energon cubes in the Transformers: Prime cartoon, a metal box with eight slits in four of its faces, though which the light of the energon within shines.
• Impactor uses his bladed hand as a grappling line, just as he has done through his IDW and original Marvel UK appearances. Wicked.
• Hound throws a grenade that is similar in design to the ones used by members of the Autobots in the Prime and 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon series. Considering all three have Polygon Pictures at the helm, this would more than likely be asset reuse.

Animation and technical errors

• When the red Cog-generic combines with Sideswipe, his torso section disappears.
• Chromia and Cog have been rescaled to a smaller size in order to be carried on the back of Optimus's vehicle mode duing their retreat.

Real-world references

• The "Tarn-Hauser Gate" that Ultra Magnus mentions in this episode is assuredly a reference to the "Tannhauser Gate", mentioned in Roy Batty's famous death monologue from the film Blade Runner. F.J. DeSanto also confirmed it was a double-nod to Mikiel Houser, a Hasbro studio creative exec.
• Shockwave's plan for the Allspark will "de-rez" the Autobots, a euphemism for death used in the Tron films. Shockwave's original voice was based on the character Sark from that film.

Trivia

• Though Ultra Magnus being able to overhear Shockwave's plan from his cell can be excused as a convenient possibility, the Decepticons seem baffled that Magnus is able to contact his comrades from his cell. Unfortunately, this is never followed up in this episode. Does Magnus have a trick up his sleeve or did the writers just forget? You'd better binge the next episode to find out!
• Despite the cloak only hiding his face and upper torso's top, and leaving his giant shoulderpads exposed, nobody realizes who the "mysterious" cloaked figure is, not even his old friend Megatron. Odd choice for a disguise by someone whose toy can have the armor removed to resemble a totally different character...
• Rather than one of the blasters coming with his Siege toy, Barricade wields Prowl's "W-45 Acid Pellet Strikeblaster", a weapon that comes with the Siege Prowl toy.
• The blaster Elita-1 wields in this episode is the "RT-15 Stethoscopic Detector" with both a slightly elongated barrel and Chromia's "SR Hushfuze" attachment on the very end. The "RT-15 Stethoscopic Detector" is the blaster which is included with both releases of Siege Ultra Magnus. This weapon, like many of the Siege Autobot weapons, is used as a generic weapon for most of the Autobots in this series, most notably by Chromia in episode 4.