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{{episode
{{episode
|image=Giantpurplegriffon.jpg
|image=Giantpurplegriffon.jpg
|caption=Megatron really should have listened to Starscream's instinctive declaration that it wouldn't work.
|caption=Megatron really should have listened to [[Starscream (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Starscream]]'s instinctive declaration that it wouldn't work.
|series=G1toon
|series=G1toon
|ep=58
|ep=58

Revision as of 16:48, 11 October 2009

The Transformers ep 58
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers ep 46
File:Giantpurplegriffon.jpg
Megatron really should have listened to Starscream's instinctive declaration that it wouldn't work.
"Aerial Assault"
Production code 700-57
Production company Sunbow Productions
Airdate December 10, 1985
Written by Douglas Booth
Continuity Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Slingshot and Skydive go undercover to discover who is responsible for the theft of planes in the Middle East.

Japanese title: 突撃エアーボット (Totsugeki Airbot, "Charge, Airbots")

Synopsis

Hey, look, no arms!

In an unnamed Middle Eastern country, the Aerialbots are searching for clues to a group that is stealing planes. After flying over a bazaar (in which is a hauntingly familiar jeep being driven by a suspicious man loading equipment), the Aerialbots receive a distress call. Heading into a nearby canyon, they are attacked by the Combaticons and Dirge, and Slingshot ends up being buried within a cave by Blast Off. However, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ratchet, and Hoist arrive and drive off the Decepticons. After unearthing Slingshot, the Autobots return to a nearby air base for repairs. Slingshot is fixed, but his weapons systems have been damaged, and he needs a new console from the base. Skydive gets the idea to let himself serve as bait, which Silverbolt, in his infinite wisdom, believes is a good idea, and Slingshot decides to join as well. As night comes, the two Aerialbots are soon stolen by the plane-nappers, but they are disassembled and their radio transmitters are disabled.

Retooling gone badly wrong.

Transporting their ill-gotten planes in laundry trucks, the plane-nappers manage to get past security, but are followed by a young boy named Hassan. Getting into the truck carrying the Aerialbots' nose cones, he meets up with them and identifies the man heading this operation as Ali. As it turns out, Ali has deposed Prince Jumal, the young ruler of the country, and has allied with Megatron to create both plane drones for conquering the oil fields of the Middle East, and a...Giant Purple Griffin that will...do...stuff. As the convoy reaches the Palace, the Decepticons begin reassembling the planes, but the Aerialbots cause themselves to short-circuit, leaving their parts free to be reassembled. They manage to get everything except Slingshot's chest plate, but Hassan manages to borrow the front grill assembly from a car that Prince Jumal owned.

Onslaught's head in the sand serves subtly as a scathing rebuke of isolationism as foreign policy.

As the Decepticons prepare to mobilize, Skydive and Slingshot manage to contact the other Aerialbots, who come to help. Meanwhile, Hassan has slipped aboard the...fortress to steal a new weapons console for Slingshot. As the Aerialbots arrive, Blast Off, Vortex, and Ramjet take control of the drone forces. The Aerialbots are able to dispatch the drones and their commanders, so Onslaught decides to off them himself, only to be stopped by Slingshot. Blast Off orders the Combaticons to transform into Bruticus. Slingshot bravely tries to prevent the merge, as Fireflight's absence prevents his own team from merging into Superion. Eventually, Bruticus forms after Slingshot is thrown into the head of the now mobile...fortress. Hassan gets a weapon console to Slingshot, frees them, then heads to attack Bruticus. Fireflight finally arrives, and the Aerialbots form Superion and damage the...fortress, causing it to crash into an oil field. Superion separates into his Aerialbot components, causing the diving Bruticus to fall into the oil field. The Aerialbots then set fire to the field, forcing the Decepticons to retreat.

At the palace, the Aerialbots are trying to figure out what to do with Ali and what he did with Prince Jumal, only to discover that Hassan is Prince Jumal. He explains that Slingshot may keep the new chest plate as a gift, as Jumal's hobby is fixing old junk cars. Slingshot feels honored...till he thinks that Jumal is calling him a piece of junk.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots Decepticons Humans

Quotes

"About time too. That high altitude was making me dizzy."

–Thankful for a reason to land, Silverbolt reveals he's still afraid of heights.


"On my way to a turkey shoot. Isn’t that right, turkeys?"

Blast Off


"Megatron, you promised me world domination!”
"You’ll be lucky if I let you live, fool!"

Ali pushes his luck with Megatron


"Hey. Did you just call me a... junker?"
"Don't worry, Slingshot. No matter what you're made of, you'll always be a Rolls Royce to me!"

Slingshot and Jumal

Notes

Animation or technical glitches

Hmm let's see... Autobot symbol... nope, nothing suspicious to see here!
  • Slingshot flips his new Rolls Royce grill chest plate over, and its backside matches his original chest design, but colored gray. After this scene, however, his chest has its normal coloration.
  • An odd sound editing error clips the end off of Blast Off's line "So I can blast him into oblivion!" and the start of Onslaught's following line, "Combaticons unite!"
  • During the final scene, when Slingshot and Prince Jumal are discussing the Rolls Royce grille Slingshot was using as a chest plate, the front of the grille appears and disappears into thin air several times, without being flipped over.
  • When Fireflight finally arrives to help the rest of the Aerialbots against Bruticus, he is colored entirely black.
  • Ramjet has Dirge's color scheme in the scene just after the griffin starts firing on the Aerialbots.

Continuity errors

  • This episode was produced and aired well out of sequence. Most visibly, the Combaticons appear, placing the episode chronologically after after "The Revenge of Bruticus". It also presumably occurs after "War Dawn", because the Aerialbots have no problem fighting Decepticons and aren't jerks towards humans.
  • We never learn the reason for Fireflight's protracted absence.

Trivia

  • Deleted scenes in this episode include Hassan reconstructing Slingshot and Skydive to disguise them as refrigerators to get them past the border guards; the trucks transporting the jet parts breaking down in the desert and some camels being stolen to tow them when Swindle refuses to do so; and Swindle discovering the Aerialbots, being knocked out and having his memory banks wiped so he forgets they were there.
  • The Giant Purple Griffin has become one of the most mocked creations in Transfandom.
  • In this episode, Ed Gilbert takes over the role of Superion from Frank Welker, who voice him briefly in "The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2".