Microbots: Difference between revisions
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* When the Decepticons get drunk, Soundwave is seen drinking amongst the crowd, despite having a faceplate. | * When the Decepticons get drunk, Soundwave is seen drinking amongst the crowd, despite having a faceplate. | ||
* When Perceptor says the Heart of Cybertron is going to explode, the voice that comes out of his mouth is Brawn's. | * When Perceptor says the Heart of Cybertron is going to explode, the voice that comes out of his mouth is Brawn's. | ||
*When Perceptor unshrinks Ironhides microchip,he has a Deception insignia. | *When Perceptor unshrinks Ironhides microchip, he has a Deception insignia. | ||
===Continuity errors=== | ===Continuity errors=== | ||
Revision as of 03:23, 16 August 2009
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 In the '80s, every cartoon had to have a shrinking episode. | |||||||||
| "Microbots" | |||||||||
| Production code | #700-33 | ||||||||
| Production company | Sunbow Productions | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 7, 1985 | ||||||||
| Written by | David Wise | ||||||||
| Continuity | Generation 1 cartoon continuity | ||||||||
Perceptor, Brawn, and Bumblebee must shrink themselves to go inside Megatron and retrieve an artifact, the Heart of Cybertron, that gives him enormous power.
- Japanese title: ミクロの決死隊 (Micro no Kesshi Tai, "The Micro Suicide Squad")
Synopsis
While digging for Mayan artifacts in South America, a group of archaeologists stumble upon an ancient spacecraft. As news of the discovery is broadcast on the news, Soundwave and Megatron recognize it as the Nemesis, the Decepticon ship they traveled to Earth in four million years ago. Megatron states that there is something on that ship which he wants, and sets out to get it.
Meanwhile, at the Autobots' headquarters, Perceptor is using a shrinking-enlarging device to repair one of Ironhide's memory chips while being insulted by Brawn for not being a soldier. Bumblebee walks in and tries to make him stop, when Optimus Prime orders Brawn and Bumblebee to follow him to South America along with Ratchet, to stop Megatron from obtaining what he wants.
As Megatron's troops blast their way through a rainforest in order to avoid satellite detection, Starscream manages to first miss blasting a tree and then get attacked by a giant snake, to the amusement of Rumble and the Constructicons. Meanwhile, Ravage has met his match in the form of a real Jaguar. The Autobots arrive and decide not to burn the forest down, because Optimus says "that's not our style".
Megatron gets through the forest first, and reaches the ship. Blasting it open, he retrieves the ship's energy core, the Heart of Cybertron. Hook implants it into Megatron's torso, vastly increasing his power level. Optimus Prime then arrives and orders the Autobots to attack, but they are all defeated by Megatron's new ability to continuously fire energy from his fingertips. The Autobots only manage to escape when Optimus orders Smokescreen to generate a smokescreen, allowing them to bring a hill down on the Decepticons.
After limping back to base, Wheeljack creates a force-field to keep Megatron at bay. Perceptor hatches a plan to shrink himself, Brawn and Bumblebee to microscopic sizes in order to infiltrate Megatron's body and disconnect the Heart of Cybertron.
Meanwhile, the Decepticons sit around and get plastered overcharged on energon. After Megatron rambles on about the "good ol' days" and passes out, Powerglide delivers the tiny Autobots into his body. This causes him to wake up and go to destroy the Autobots himself, as the rest of his forces can't stay on their feet.
Perceptor, Brawn and Bumblebee make their way through Megatron's body, avoiding his electro-sanitizers, until they reach the Decepticon's brain. The others have to restrain Brawn from destroying the brain, since the fall would likely cause the Heart of Cybertron to explode. Megatron reaches Autobot headquarters and begins firing on the force field protecting Optimus Prime. The miniaturized trio ride one of Megatron's evil brain impulses to the Heart of Cybertron, which Perceptor disconnects while dodging more brain impulses. Taking the heart, they make a dash for safety as the shrink-ray's effects begin to wear off. Megatron, deprived of his weapon and knocked flat by Optimus, is shocked by the sight of three rapidly-growing Autobots jumping out of his shoulder joint, and flies off.
Observing that the Heart of Cybertron has become unstable, Brawn tosses it two thousand miles into the sky, at which point Perceptor detonates it with a blast from his cannon. After this, Brawn shows much more respect for Perceptor.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes
"Nice scenery."
"Yeah, now let's waste it! I hate nice things."
- —Rumble and Scavenger
[Starscream shoots at a tree and misses]
"Good shot, Starscream!"
"Shut up or I'll blast you, punk!"
"Hey, hold that pose! I wanna remember you that way!"
[A snake wraps itself around Starscream's neck]
"Help! Get this thing off me!"
"I think it looks styling on ya!"
- —Rumble and the Constructicons laugh at Starscream.
Brawn: Are you defective? How're we gonna do that?!
Perceptor: Simple! We use my trans-mat reduction beam to shrink down to microscopic size. Then, we crawl into Megatron, and rip the blasted heart out!
Optimus: What do you think of his intelligence now, Brawn?
Brawn: Ahhh, I reserve judgment.
- —Brawn is just being pissy at this point.
Megatron: Decepticons: a toast. To the imminent destruction of the accursed Autobots!
[The Decepticons begin drinking Energon]
Starscream: Energy! We won't need to conserve it after tomorrow. We can bleed this planet dry!
Rumble: [hiccups] Boy, these are good. [hiccups] I needed to refuel. Energy!
Megatron: Energy! Energy!
Thundercracker: Hey! This stuff's the greatest! [passes out]
Megatron: Ah, those were the good ol' days, back on Cybertron...Didn' half to...sneak around in these...ugly Earth disguises.
[Powerglide arrives]
Powerglide: Time to cut the jets and glide! ...What in the world?
Megatron: Good ol' Cybertron! Land...of the metal moon!
- —the Decepticons give us what is quite possibly the funniest scene in the series.
"How come it's so quiet?"
"Because he isn't engaging in any of his higher brain functions."
"Then I got a honey of an idea. Let's bash brain!"
- —Brawn and Perceptor in Megatron's cranial chamber
"What are they?"
"Brain impulses... evil brain impulses!
- —Brawn and Perceptor discuss Decepticon neuroscience.
Notes
Animation and/or technical glitches
- When Optimus is telling the Autobots to leave the base, Perceptor has a red Deception symbol. No wonder Brawn doesn't trust him.
- When the Constructicons laugh at Starscream, they use Rumble's laughter while Rumble is talking. This laughter is reused a second later by Rumble himself when he is done talking.
- Shortly before Hook installs the Heart of Cybertron, his head is white instead of black.
- Most of the Autobots do not follow Optimus to South America, but appear anyway halfway through the battle with Megatron.
- While Perceptor is giving his monologue about shrinking down and going into Megatron, Optimus Prime's waist is red instead of white.
- Ratchet says "do" twice in a row when talking to Bumblebee at the end.
- When the Decepticons get drunk, Soundwave is seen drinking amongst the crowd, despite having a faceplate.
- When Perceptor says the Heart of Cybertron is going to explode, the voice that comes out of his mouth is Brawn's.
- When Perceptor unshrinks Ironhides microchip, he has a Deception insignia.
Continuity errors
- The Decepticons' ship was depicted as being the same size as the ship used by the Autobots in the opening episode, but here it's considerably smaller.
Transformers references
- The Decepticon ship in this episode was later dubbed the Nemesis by the episode of the same name in Beast Wars. The ship itself is not named in "Microbots".
Real-world references
- The Japanese title is apparently a reference to DC Comics' Suicide Squad.
- This episode shares a lot of similarities with the novel "Heart of Darkness" and even more with it's cinematic adaptation, "Apocalypse Now". Both are about an adventure deep into the jungle with the novel's protagonist being a Englishman and antagonist who attempts to seize control, mad with power.
Miscellaneous trivia
- This episode is perhaps the only one to show drunken Decepticons. Which is a real bummer, because they make funny, happy drunks.
- The pulsating sound heard when Perceptor and company approach the Heart of Cybertron within Megatron is the same one used for the Dalek control rooms in all episodes of Doctor Who since 1963.
- Megatron apparently has a wristwatch on his left wrist, which he looks at while flying around (causing concern for the Autobots within his shoulder joints). Oddly enough, this has precedent.
- At one point, Brawn proposes killing Megatron from the inside. Perceptor stops him, saying that if he fell while flying, the impact could detonate the Heart of Cybertron. Once Megatron's landed, this wouldn't seem to be a concern anymore, but the Autobots still choose to remove the Heart of Cybertron rather than bashing brains. Perhaps even a short fall would have been enough?
- Let's reiterate: Brawn considers murdering Megatron by PUNCHING HIS BRAIN TO PIECES. The other Autobots don't stop him because it's cheating or unfair or not honorable, they stop him because it's just too dangerous to bother. Great job being role models, guys.
- Megatron already has a open spot between his chest circuitry for the Heart of Cybertron, much like Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod have reserved spots (holes) for the Matrix.
- While drunk, Megatron rants about disliking his "ugly Earth disguise". He apparently has a change of heart over the next twenty years, as by the 2005 he still has the same alt-mode despite having conquered Cybertron. Considering that changing alt-modes seems to take all of 5 seconds, he surely could have found time if he really hated his gun mode that much. Maybe he just really likes being held?
