Awakening (Armada)

The name or term "Awakening" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Awakening (disambiguation).

« Transformers: Armada ep 28 »
"Awakening" 豪腕 (しょうげき) (Shōgeki) "Stout Arm: Shock"
Production code	TF: A-28
Production company	TV Tokyo, NAS
Airdate	March 8, 2003 (English) 18 July 2003 (Japanese)
Writer	Shōji Tonoike
Director	Shigeki Hatakeyama
Animation studio	Actas Inc.
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy

Decepticon reinforcements arrive, and the hunt is on for a new weapon.

Synopsis

Getting from A to B is easy; doing so in style is the real challenge.

The Autobots and Decepticons are fighting on a beach as something huge moves into range. The ground begins to shake, causing everyone to stop fighting and look up in wonder. The ship crashes into the surf, and Thrust announces that Tidal Wave has arrived from the planet Dabola with reinforcements. Megatron asks for a demonstration of Tidal Wave's abilities and, at Thrust's urging, the ship opens fire on the Autobots. Smokescreen attempts to line up a shot, but is injured by weapons fire. Jetfire and Starscream clash above the battlefield. Hot Shot and Blurr link with their Mini-Cons, diving into the ocean to attack the ship from below. Thrust attempts to take out Jetfire, who transforms to robot mode, grabbing Thrust for a power-dive into the sea. Unfortunately the Decepticon becomes invisible long enough to escape. Jetfire turns his attention to the Decepticon ship in an attempt to draw its fire, but soon realises he's no match for its fire power.

Explosions rock the huge ship as Hot Shot and Blurr begin firing on it from beneath the waves. The pair grab the side of the ship, pushing it over before sharing a celebratory high-five on its upturned hull. Thrust flees as they turn their weapons on him. Back at base, the kids celebrate, but the alarm soon sounds for the detection of two new Mini-Cons, which means the Autobots now have three to collect. Alexis is confused, however, by the reported location of the Mini-Cons. At that moment, the Street Action Mini-Con Team run in and tell the kids that one of the detected Mini-Cons is located somewhere on the base. Rad, Carlos, Billy and Fred run after the three Street Action Mini-Cons.

In the caves around the base, a Mini-Con storage panel glows, as does another in a crevasse on the Moon. The third one pulses, lying on the sand of the beach where the Autobots and Decepticons are battling.

Megatron looks disgusted that Thrust's reinforcements have sunk, and the Decepticon tactician calls out desperately to Tidal Wave.

Alexis works out one of the Mini-Cons they're searching for is on the Moon. Sideways promptly appears on the monitor, saying he's impressed she figured it out and that he's got a message for them. The three Mini-Cons can unite to form the Requiem Blaster, a weapon with massive destructive power. He says the Autobots must find the Mini-Cons to win their current battle, which puzzles Alexis as the Autobots appear to be winning. Red Alert thinks there's some merit to what Sideways has said.

The Autobots are indeed on the verge of winning their battle when the ground begins to shake once more. A huge robot emerges from the ocean—Tidal Wave. The massive robot opens fire on the Autobots, and Alexis realises that Sideways was right.

The kids trudge through the caves after their Mini-Cons, with Fred complaining loudly. Finally he gives out a cry and the others discover he's fallen through the rock floor, revealing a flight of stairs.

"How many warning shots do Vulcans usually fire?"
"None."

Meanwhile, the Autobots are still pinned down on the beach. Optimus and Jetfire Powerlinx to launch an attack on Tidal Wave.

The kids find the first of the Space Mini-Con Team, Sky Blast, and introduce themselves.

Jet Optimus loses his weapon and is blasted by Tidal Wave while trying to retrieve it. He drops into the sea as the Decepticon laughs.

The kids are confused as Sky Blast takes a step back and fires at High Wire. The Mini-Con runs off, despite their protests, and they give chase.

Back on the beach, the Autobots fire on Tidal Wave to allow Optimus time to escape. He's able to get to cover, but the Decepticon turns his weapons on the other Autobots instead. With the Autobots taken care of, Tidal Wave returns his attention back to Optimus, looming over him while the Autobot leader can do no more than hide behind a boulder.

To be continued...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Mini-Cons	Misc
Scavenger (2) Smokescreen (3) Hot Shot (4) Optimus Prime (5) Blurr (6) Jetfire (12) Red Alert (18)	Tidal Wave (1) Starscream (7) Cyclonus (8) Demolishor (9) Megatron (10) Thrust (11)	Fred (13) Alexis (14) Rad White (15) Carlos Lopez (16) Billy (17)	Incinerator (19) Jolt (20) Inferno/Terradive (21) Grindor (22) High Wire (23) Sureshock (24) Liftor (27) Leader-1 (28) Sky Blast (29)	Sideways (26)

Quotes

"All right, who's our next victim? How about conehead there?"

—Hot Shot getting cocky.

"Ah, would you stop whining, Fred?"
"I can't! I was born this way."

—Carlos and Fred.

"Hey guys, my thighs are rubbing and my underwear's riding up."

—TMI, Fred, TMI.

"Hey, Fred, are you sure you didn't land on your head?"

—Carlos

Notes

Differences with Legends of the Microns

• In Legends of the Microns, Optimus Prime deduces "Something is coming this way!". Way to go, Sherlock. Whereas in Armada, he asks Hot Shot if he feels the earth trembling.
• Hot Rod shocked, asked what was Tidal Wave. Legends of the Microns He answers Optimus question to check it out
• Smokescreen originally grunts and Blurr shouts to run. As in Armada he says to retreat
• Legends of the Microns Megatron laughs and exclaim that "this looks like it'll be quite fun!". As in Armada he says they could use more help for the troops.
• Armada describes Tidal Wave as "leading his troops to victory" on the planet Dabola, but... does the slow-witted, barely-verbal Tidal Wave really strike you as the "leader" type? The original, subtly-different Legends of the Microns dialogue refers to "his cannons beams leading the Decepticons to victory," attributing the wins to the power he brings to the battlefield, rather than to him being a commander. Legends of the Microns also mentions a second planet where Tidal Wave brought the Decepticons victory named Dekunon, in addition to Dabola, and "countless other worlds".
• Carlos thinks that even if they rescued the Minicons the Autobots would still be in danger, Meanwhile in Armada he expects Optimus to do all the work
• In Legends of the Microns Hot Shot praises Tidal Wave firepower as in Armada he exclains that they are "pinned down but good"
• Blurr has a dialogue worried about the minicons showing that since Reiforcement he is more caring to the Mini-Cons,He is cut by Jetfire saying that they cant move with the barrage of lasers. Armada however cut Blurr's line entirely and only made Jetfire talk worrying that the Decepticons will collect the Mini-Cons instead of them.
• Smokescreen loudly shouts that he will take care of Tidal Wave. Legends of the Microns He says he'll try to take down
• In Legends of the Microns, Tidal Wave (known in Japan as "Shockwave") is distinguished by the verbal tic of slowly chanting his own name, as well as the Japanese word gōwan (豪腕), meaning "strong arm". This isn't really carried over to Armada, but, as ever, the rushed, slipshod nature of the Armada dub makes it hard to discern if this was on purpose. In this episode, at least, his chants are mostly replaced with laughter, and while he will occasionally intone his name in future episodes, the quirk is largely communicated in English by having him refer to himself in the third person in Dinobot-esque caveman-speak. However, the English dub of sequel series Energon will keep the trait, turning his chants of "Tidal Wave... Tidal Wave... Tidal Wave..." into one of the character's most recognizable attributes.

Animation and technical errors

• In the opening pan across the Autobots, the rocks in front of them jump to the left between frames.
• After Blurr Powerlinx with Incinerator (deploying his wings in the process) and Hot Shot Powerlinx with Jolt, the two jump a dune. During and after this jump, Blurr's wings are folded back into his pre-Powerlinxed configuration and Incinerator is nowhere to be seen.
• Carlos calls Grindor "High Wire".
• The narrator refers to Tidal Wave as "Shockwave", his Japanese name.
• When running for cover, Optimus Prime's head is huge compared to his body.
• Hot Shot's face briefly turns yellow as he runs from Tidal Wave's barrage of lasers.
• When Alexis realizes that Sideways told the truth and that the Autobots need help, the top of Red Alert's right arm is miscolored yellow.

Continuity notes

• Tidal Wave arrives on Earth from planet Dabola, where it is said that he had led the Decepticons to victory.
• The firewall Red Alert created in "Tactician" to keep Sideways from contacting the Autobot base didn't work, and it won't be the last time it doesn't work, either.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • Tidal Wave uses his "Cannonball Laser Storm"/"Laser Cannonball Attack". This is him using all of his turrets in both modes. He also fires from his chest and armpit Mini-Con ports.
  • Hot Shot fires his Axlezooka from the side rather than the top, as he runs to Smokescreen.
  • Jetfire can fire lasers from his shoulder pads.
  • Jetfire's shield is also used for once!
  • Thrust and Inferno fire lasers from their hands. At least Thrust has thruster hands to accomplish this.
  • Apparently, Inferno can fly, however, see below.
  • Blurr oddly fires lasers from the back end of his rifle; the stranger part is the fact that it's firing from his holster.
  • Together, Hot Shot and Blurr somehow have the strength to capsize an entire battleship.
  • Sky Blast fires lasers from his cockpit hand.

Continuity errors

• Hot Shot and Blurr are seen driving underwater, something they can't normally do without the aid of Aqua Boosters.
• Inferno is flying next to Thrust during their aerial attack on Jetfire. Later, when Thrust retreats, Terradive is seen in his place. It's uncertain which Mini-Con is really supposed to be there. Given that Inferno hasn't shown the ability to fly before, it's likely meant to be Terradive.
• The Autobots have been using the base's scanner to detect Mini-Cons for quite a while now, but the scanner only NOW realizes there's a Mini-Con right inside of it.

Transformers references

• Hot Shot refers to Thrust as a "Conehead", a fan-term used to describe the group of Seekers from Generation 1, of which Thrust was a part. Given the dubious nature of Armada's dub, however, it's open to question if this was deliberately done.

Trivia

 

See? It's the same pose but in reverse!

• The kanji 豪腕 would be pronounced as gōwan, while shōgeki is used for 衝撃.
• This is the only episode in the series where the narrator in the opening gives very cliffhanger-esque closing monologue in place of Rad.
• Thrust is seen briefly in his Legends of the Microns Vol. 8 DVD cover pose.
• This episode was put onto the Universe CD-ROM and packed with toys in the Universe toyline in 2003.

Foreign localization

German

• Title: "Der Riesenroboter" ("The Giant Robot")
• Original airdate: This episode was never shown on TV, but was dubbed in 2003. The dub premiered in 2009 with the German DVD release of the show.

Hungarian

• Title: "Ébredés" ("Awakening")

Italian

• Title: "Il risveglio" ("The Awakening")

• Unlike in English, Tidal Wave is never called by his Japanese name.
• At the end the narrator misnames the series as Transformer: Armada instead of Transformers: Armada.

Korean

• Title: "거대전함 쇼크" ("Giant Battleship Shock")

Polish

• Title: "Przebudzenie" ("Awakening")

Portuguese

• Title: "Despertar" ("Awakening")

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

CD-ROM

2003 — Transformers: Universe (Hasbro)

DVD

2003 — Transformers: Legends of the Microns — Volume 7 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:09 (Warner Music Video)
2006 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (Rhino Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)