A Heroic Battle

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Yes, son of Adam?
"A Heroic Battle" 壮絶! アルファQの戦い () (Sōzetsu! Alpha Q no Tatakai) "Heroic! Alpha Q's Battle"
Production company	TV Tokyo, NAS
Airdate	10 September 2004 (Japanese) November 10, 2004 (English)
Writer	Akira Okeya
Director	Shigenori Awai
Animation studio	Actas, Studio A-CAT (3D)
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy

Megatron activates Unicron's body, which moves to reclaim its head.

Synopsis

From his control throne deep within Unicron, Megatron declares: "Next stop: Unicron."

Unicron is heading toward Alpha Q; Prime orders the energon grid activated. As the energon towers on the various planets activate, Megatron simply laughs. Kicker questions Omega Supreme about how he defeated Unicron before, but Omega says he's simply a soldier, here to follow Prime's orders. Kicker finds this less than satisfactory.

The Autobots attack the surface of Unicron. Megatron intends to crash Unicron's body into the energon grid. The 'bots and 'cons fight on his surface.

Where's your head at? Whoa whoa lets not get ahead of ourselves!

The humans note that Unicron is trapped inside the energon grid, which could cause the whole planet to explode. The Autobots attempt to retreat; Ironhide finds a way in, but Omega Supreme forces him to retreat.

Megatron commands Unicron to power through the grid. The other Decepticons have their doubts, but in the end, Unicron breaks through and heads toward Alpha Q's energon orb.

Kicker tries to warn Alpha Q, who refuses to run—he's "come to terms with our fate". Alpha Q does lament failing to help all his planets. Prime intends to enter Unicron to go after Megatron, but the heat repels Rodimus and Wing Saber, leaving him on his own. They send Omega in after Prime, who's been brought to a standstill by the sheer heat.

Believe it or not, Optimus Prime isn't dead in this shot.

Kicker refuses to give up on Alpha Q, who finally relents and tells him to head toward a newly formed planet near Ocean Planet. Misha sends the Miranda II on its way.

Unicron grasps the Energon Orb, but Alpha Q resists. As Unicron is peppered with hellfire and brimstone, Omega locates the damaged Optimus. With Unicron on the verge of exploding, the other Autobots retreat.

Kicker and Misha arrive on the planet and land. Kicker contacts Alpha Q for the next step, only to receive a romantic reminiscence about the past, as Alpha Q quietly accepts his fate. The Energon Orb dies out, restored to Unicron's head, which the titan soon restores atop his shoulders. Unicron is whole again!

As the Autobots work to restore Prime, Megatron orders Unicron to go forth and feed. But Unicron simply remains stationary, to Megatron's frustration. Rodimus suspects he's repairing damage, providing them with another chance. Omega Supreme reveals that he can link up with Optimus, and so the Autobots prepare to attack.

Aboard the Miranda II, Kicker refuses to accept that Alpha Q is dead, and vows to find him.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Jetfire (3) Optimus Prime (4) Ironhide (6) Hot Shot (7) Roadblock (8) Downshift (9) Rodimus (10) Cliffjumper (11) Prowl (12) Landmine (13) Bulkhead (14) Omega Supreme (16) Wing Saber (17) Arcee (21) Skyblast (22) Strongarm (23)	Megatron (1) Snow Cat (18) Demolishor (19) Mirage (24) Starscream (25) Divebomb (26) Battle Ravage (27) Scorponok (28) Shockblast (29)	Kicker (15) Misha (20)	Unicron (2) Alpha Q (5)

Quotes

"It's time to rebuild Unicron once and for all!"

—Megatron

"IT'S ALIVE! The almighty planet Unicron survived and is still alive!"

—Maybe if the dub Megatron says it often enough, it will come true!

"You've gotta make a run for it! Unicron made it through the energon grid and is heading your way."
"We know... but we will not run."
"We must nurture our planets!"
"You may be their sun, but if Unicron gets you there won't be any planets!"
"Attempting to escape would be futile. We don't stand a chance against Unicron."
"But you gotta try!"
"We haven't given up, Kicker. We've just come to terms with our fate."

—Kicker gets three contradictory statements in a row from Alpha Q

"Alpha Q, he's gone now."

—Optimus Prime fills us in on events the animation failed to convey

Notes

Lost in translation

• Megatron's first line is supposed to be an order to Unicron to start moving. The dub warptifies this into "Next stop Unicron", which makes no sense as Megatron is already aboard Unicron's body. Unicron's head is currently morphed into the Energon Orb, so this makes even less sense if you've missed an episode or three.
• For once, Unicron's growls aren't a dub addition. However, Super Link makes him more like one of the deep-throated, honest-to-god-scary Terror Dogs from Ghostbusters. The dub makes him sound like that cornily-growling gray-painted Scorponok toy from the Micromaster commercials. Rawrrrrrr!
• A background of buildings and spires is missing from the dub animation as Snow Cat comes skiing in along Unicron's surface.
• A minor animation change: after Prowl and Hot Shot Powerlinx, Ironhide is shown getting out of the Terrorcons' way. The dub uses a still frame shot of Hot Shot and some others in the same place.
• Unicron isn't "trapped in the grid", as the dialog indicates; he's about to ram into it. The mistake is a dub artifact.
• The dub has Misha then saying "Look, Kicker! Unicron's passing right through the energon grid!" when he hasn't even reached it yet.
• Kicker's first conversation with Alpha Q (quoted above) makes a bit more sense in the original version. Alpha Q hasn't "accepted his fate"; he's "merely preparing himself". He also doesn't say that "we don't stand a chance against Unicron"; this dub-addition line obscures the fact that he's preparing to make a stand, rather than simultaneously making a stand/preparing to die passively/just giving up.
• The dub is missing a heat-shimmer effect that plays over all the scenes that are set on Unicron's super-heated surface, as Optimus attempts to enter Unicron.
• The dub omits Alpha Q's line explaining that he's releasing all his energon as Unicron grabs the Orb, thus obscuring the entire point of the climactic act of the whole episode.
• The dub omits a line from Omega Supreme explaining that if Prime combines with him, it will "reduce his life". While the exact meaning of this is unclear, it does lend some weight to the proceedings. Without it, the scene just becomes a lot of strange Autobot waffling about "I am prepared to do this!" and "WE MUST SUCCEED!"

Pain count

• "Uh?": 0, amazingly
• "It's time to": 3
• "We've got a mission": 3
• "Let's do it!": 3
• Stock footage: 4

Animation and technical errors

• With no introductory scenes, it's really not clear at all where the various energon towers are.
• During Scorponok's short battle with Omega Supreme, he's given Megatron's voice.

Continuity errors

• "The third planet to the north of Ocean Planet"? Wha?? (note: not a dub error.)

Trivia

• Unicron's growls and grunts are hilariously pathetic, sounding a bit like he's having a difficult bowel movement.
• Paramount's home video releases list the title as "Heroic Battle," dropping the "A" from the name.

Foreign localization

Italian

• Title: "Battaglia eroica" ("Heroic Battle")

• Scorponok never talks in Megatron's voice like in English.
• Instead of saying that Unicron is trapped in the grid, in Italian Optimus says that he is about to collide with the grid. After that Misha says that Megatron wants to go beyond the grid, rather than saying that Unicron is passing through it.

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

DVD

2005 — Transformer: Super Link — Volume 009 (Interchannel) — Japanese audio only.
2005 — Transformers: Energon — Volume 4: Omega Supreme (Paramount)
2008 — Transformers: Energon — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Energon — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)