Revelations Part I: Discovery

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"Revelations Part I: Discovery"
Production company	Mainframe Entertainment
Airdate	October 30, 1999
Written by	Brynne Chandler Reaves
Directed by	James Taylor
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment

The Maximals discover what happened to the inhabitants of Cybertron, and Blackarachnia learns more about the Vehicon general, Thrust.

Japanese title: 愛の力 (Ai no Chikara, "The Power of Love")

Synopsis

Water wings — another thing the Oracle forgot to give Rattrap.

The Maximals find themselves cornered by Thrust and his Motorcycle Drones, when Optimus floods the tunnels with coolant to get rid of them. After Rattrap narrowly avoids getting swept away, they make their way to the surface, where they find the bodies of hundreds of Cybertronians in some sort of factory. Examining the remains, Rattrap declares that their sparks weren't extinguished; they were removed altogether. Blackarachnia wonders if the same thing happened to Silverbolt, but is interrupted when Jetstorm attacks with his jet drones. The Maximals choose to stand and fight, rather than flee again, partly because they're sick of running, but also partly because there's a giant killer tank in their way.

During the ensuing battle, Thrust tails Blackarachnia, but rather than attack her, he saves her from a Sonic Attack Jet's missiles—missiles which then go on to knock over a nearby tower. Blackarachnia and Thrust are seemingly buried underneath it. As the other Maximals recover from the crash, they realize that the coolant they used to flood the tunnels was meant to cool the factory they're fighting in now, and without it, the facility will explode in a few minutes. As Optimus rushes to free Blackarachnia, Cheetor wonders what "big bot" has gotten them into, echoing an earlier sentiment from Nightscream.

"But I only asked to get my nails done!"

Meanwhile, Blackarachnia awakens, and spies the shadow of Silverbolt approaching her, only to realize it's being cast by Thrust, who saved her once again. When she asks why, he only replies "my mistake," and that it won't happen again. And then it does happen again, as he knocks her out of the way of an approaching supply train. This time, he begins flashing back to having his spark extracted, and then to memories of Blackarachnia during the Beast Wars. The two venture further into the factory together, and run across a giant spark extractor, which promptly seizes them both and tries to, well, extract their sparks. Thrust saves Blackarachnia, but his own spark is taken, as Blackarachnia begins to suspect that he is, in fact, Silverbolt. She shuts down the machine, releasing both Thrust and the spark. Blackarachnia realizes that this place is where Megatron stole the sparks of all Cybertronians.

"It was this big! I swear!"

Outside, the Maximals deal with their antagonists one at a time and head to get Blackarachnia, as Nightscream and Cheetor continue arguing about Optimus. When they find her, she has restored Thrust's spark and attempted to get him to remember the time before. He promptly flees, and Optimus, seeing all the bodies, mourns his inability to stop Megatron. Cheetor, seeing they are out of time, orders Optimus to leave. The factory explodes behind them as they flee. After Cheetor declares he's taking command back from Optimus, much to the latter's surprise, Blackarachnia tells them that Thrust's spark once belonged to a Maximal. Realizing that Jetstorm and Tankor must be the same way, the Maximals resolve not to destroy the Vehicon generals, but to bring them back to the right side.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Vehicons
Optimus Primal (1) Cheetor (2) Rattrap (3) Blackarachnia (6) Nightscream (7)	Thrust (4) Motorcycle Drones (5) Jetstorm (8) Sonic Attack Jets (9) Tankor (10)

Quotes

"Aw man, look at me. This bod' is useless."
"Ah, don't underestimate it, Rattrap; it's ugly too."

—Rattrap and Blackarachnia.

"Tankor slag Bird Bot!"
"Hello, I'm a BAT!"

—Tankor, confusing Nightscream for another type of flying creature

"Well well well, all I need's a spider and I've got the whole set! Gotta catch 'em all!"

—Jetstorm, confusing one franchise for another

"Saving me AGAIN? What is your defect?
"This place.." (bad flashbacks) "You..." (Blackarachnia flashbacks) "I almost remember."

—Thrust, just being confusing

Notes

Technical/animation glitches

• Glitch

Continuity errors

• Error

Transformers references

• The models of several Generation 1 characters seen in the Beast Wars episode "The Agenda (Part III)" appear as corpses including Prowl and Soundwave.
• Thrust recalls memories of Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rhinox and Blackarachnia's Beast Wars forms.

Real-world references

• At one point, Jetstorm says, "Gotta catch 'em all!"—the catchphrase of the competing Pokémon franchise.

External links

• Link