One Shall Rise, Part 3

« Transformers: Prime ep 26
Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends?
"One Shall Rise, Part 3"
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	October 15, 2011
Written by	Steven Melching
Directed by	Vinton Heuck
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures

Jack learns more about Optimus' history on Cybertron while the Autobots continue their battle at the Earth's core.

Synopsis

As he leads the Autobots further toward Earth’s core, Megatron is again seized by a vision of the planet exploding. He notes how Unicron’s strength grows ever stronger, and continues on. Arcee and Optimus both voice their mistrust of the Decepticon leader, though have no choice but to follow him. Unbeknownst to them, several strange mechanical creatures observe the intruders to their dark domain.

Back at base, Ratchet and the humans watch a report that outlines how the planet’s chaotic weather continues to spiral out of control. Despite June’s efforts to lighten the mood, Agent Fowler insists that something must be done – even if it means contacting his associates at the Pentagon. Fowler makes known his uneasiness about teaming up with Megatron, but Ratchet surprises the humans by explaining how such a situation has happened before. Ratchet explains how Optimus Prime and Megatron were once close friends, in the twilight hours of Cybertron’s Golden Age. He states that the great Autobot leader was once named Orion Pax, a simple clerk in the Iacon Hall of Records.

Orion Pax, learning of Cybertron’s past, grew concerned about the corruption affecting high places and the state of inequity in society. Orion became inspired by the revolutionary words of Megatronus; a gladiator who took his name from one of the thirteen original Primes. Megatronus gained a loyal following through his radical and innovatory actions, Soundwave chief among their number. Over time; Megatronus became a mentor figure to Orion Pax, and chose to shorten his name as he left the gladiatorial arena for the political one. Megatron appeared before the High Council, voicing his ideas for shaping a new Cybertron by violent means, and demanded to be named the next Prime. Orion protested against Megatron’s suggestions before the Council, moving their sparks and minds as he unknowingly revealed himself to be the one worthy of the title. Megatron severed his ties to Orion and the Council, taking his ‘Decepticon’ followers to begin the war that consumed Cybertron and vowing to claim the legendary Matrix of Leadership for himself. Hoping to reverse the damage that had poisoned the planet, Orion journeyed to Cybertron’s Core – where he found himself before the spark of Primus, the creator of all Cybertronians. Primus sensed the purity of Orion’s own spark and bestowed upon him the legendary Matrix, transforming him into Optimus Prime. In the present; Miko and Jack question Optimus’ plan to give the Matrix to the Earth’s core, asking what could possibly stop Megatron from attempting to claim if for himself now. Ratchet sceptically replies that Megatron only intends to save the Earth so that he may conquer it at a later date.

As they near Unicron’s spark, Bulkhead begins to feel the draining effects of the Dark Energon. Bumblebee and Arcee help him a short way across the catwalks, but Megatron soon comes to a halt ahead with the realisation that Unicron is preparing to expel them. A huge number of Unicron’s drones suddenly swarm into view, surrounding Megatron and the Autobots. They engage the drones in fierce battle, blasting and slashing through their attackers. Arcee is knocked to a lower level, not long before the Dark Energon clouds Bulkhead’s vision. He stumbles from the catwalk but manages to grab hold of the platform, and is seized by Bumblebee before he can tumble to his death. Optimus and Megatron fight back-to-back, managing to hold their own against the drones in a spectacular display of effective – if uneasy – teamwork. Bumblebee struggles to hold onto Bulkhead, who insists that the scout lets him go. Optimus seizes Bulkhead just as Bumblebee loses his grip, and hauls him up to safety. As the group quickly becomes overwhelmed, Arcee hitches a ride on one of the drones to catch up with the others and beat a swift retreat.

Maybe Megatron should stop having second-in-commands and just skip straight to third-in-commands.

Aboard the Nemesis, Airachnid outlines the questionable nature of their leader’s recent behaviour. Knock Out asks whether she is suggesting that they abandon Lord Megatron. Airachnid explains how Megatron’s undetectable signal implies that he is either offline or at the mercy of Unicron – neither of which scenarios are in the best interests of the Decepticons. She suggests an exodus from Earth, and receives no protests from the surrounding Vehicons. Her order to retreat to Regulon Four is denied by Soundwave, who silently challenges her authority. She assumes an aggressive stance, ordering him to step aside. Soundwave does not comply, so she leaps to attack him. Soundwave easily blocks every one of her blows, before lifting her clean into the air. He hurls her back, deploying Laserbeak to stun Airachnid in a sudden sneak attack. Pinned under Soundwave’s foot, much to Knock Out’s amusement, Airachnid relinquishes command to the intelligence officer.

Back in the Autobot base; Ratchet notes how he has lost the others’ communication links and life signals, most likely caused by interference from the electromagnetic anomalies. Miko asks how they are supposed to know when the others are ready for pickup if contact is impossible – but Ratchet is prevented from responding by the sound of Jack tapping the GroundBridge key against a railing. Ratchet reveals that the object is actually the Key to Vector Sigma – one of Cybertron’s most precious relics. Ratchet then realises that Optimus entrusted the key to Jack because he did not plan on returning from the planet’s core.

Megatron is gripped by yet another painful vision of Unicron whilst he and the Autobots are backed into an enclosed chamber by the attacking drones. Unicron orders him to destroy Optimus. Instead, Megatron saves the Autobot leader by blasting an oncoming drone. He then indicates a closed doorway nearby, stating that Unicron’s spark lies just beyond. He explains how, to pass through, they must fool Unicron into believing that they pose no danger, and moves his Dark Energon-infused chest up to the door. It opens in response, and Optimus orders the others to remain outside and provide cover fire while he and Megatron advance.

The passageway beyond leads directly into Unicron’s spark chamber, where Optimus prepares to expose the Matrix within his chest. Unicron’s spark reacts, striking both invaders with its energy. Unicron again orders Megatron to kill Optimus, forcing him to unsheathe his blade and approach the weakened Prime. Megatron struggles against him, declaring himself to be under the command of no-one. His resistance provokes only an onslaught of pain and a furious reaction from the Chaos Bringer.

The volcano outside erupts violently, and the ground enclosing the Autobot base begins to quake. Ratchet tells the humans to take cover, and moves to shield them from falling debris with his arms.

Unicron’s spark adopts the appearance of a face, as Megatron is seemingly freed from his control. Optimus calls upon the power of the Matrix of Leadership, though hesitates as Unicron possesses Megatron’s body in a veil of purple flame and declares his own invincibility. Optimus cuts short Unicron’s desire to pull the Earth into chaos, and rises to his feet as he too becomes surrounded by a brilliant blue light. Optimus fires the power of the Matrix from his chest directly into Unicron’s spark, the resulting wave of energy knocking Megatron back off his feet. His energy drained; Optimus falls to his knees, and Unicron’s spark emits a final wail of pain before vanishing into oblivion.

The drones outside suddenly fall from the air, lifeless. The volcano, along with all of the Earth’s other natural phenomena, subside back to normality. Ratchet and the humans watch as the monitors flicker online, rejoicing as their team’s life signals are all safely re-established. Aboard the Nemesis, however, Soundwave also detects the signature of the Decepticon leader.

"You smell like my mom." "I smell like his mom!"

Megatron rights himself in Unicron’s now-empty spark chamber, inspecting Optimus’ steaming body for a moment before unsheathing his blade. Optimus gazes blearily up at the approaching Decepticon, addressing him as ‘Megatronus’ while asking about their current location. Surprised, Megatron retracts his weapon and helps the Autobot to his feet. Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee soon burst through the wall – though Optimus does not recognise them. A GroundBridge suddenly opens nearby; Megatron claims that the Autobots are their sworn enemies, and provides cover fire as Optimus heads for the vortex. Optimus blankly meets Bumblebee’s devastated gaze for a split second, before disappearing through the Bridge. Megatron follows, leaving the shocked Autobots alone in the empty chamber.

Ratchet GroundBridges the team back to base, but is anxious to see that Optimus is not with them. They explain that Optimus is still alive, but did not even know his own name. Ratchet realises that surrendering the Matrix of Leadership caused their leader to lose not only the wisdom of the Primes, but his own memories as well.

Knock Out and the other Decepticons, minus Airachnid, welcome Megatron back aboard the Nemesis. Megatron steps aside to allow Optimus through, and Breakdown automatically moves to attack. Megatron halts him, insisting that this is no way to treat a ‘long lost comrade’, and declares that Orion Pax is one of them.

To be continued…

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Optimus Prime (2) Bumblebee (3) Arcee (5) Bulkhead (6) Ratchet (9) High Council (14–16)	Megatron (1) Soundwave (13) Airachnid (18) Breakdown (19) Knock Out (20) Vehicons (21) Laserbeak (22)	June Darby (7) William Fowler (8) Raf Esquivel (10) Jack Darby (11) Miko Nakadai (12)	Unicron (4) Core (17)

Quotes

"Watch out for the quiet ones…"

— Knockout after witnessing Soundwave "veto" Airachnid's motion to leave Earth.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• Since when do tidal waves just stop short? Unicron's death does not make forward momentum go away.

Continuity errors

• Bulkhead appears to be the only one affected by the Dark Energon. This may be reasoned that as Bulkhead is the biggest of the Autobots, he was more vulnerable to the Dark Energon's strength-sapping effects; meanwhile Megatron, despite being bigger, already has Dark Energon in his spark and is thus invulnerable to it. (This would make sense, coupled to the fact that Bulkhead hasn't been directly exposed to Dark Energon before (Arcee had several drops worth on her hand in "Darkness Rising Part 2", Optimus and Ratchet were equally exposed while battling Terrorcons in "Darkness Rising Part 4", and Bumblebee held a sliver of it in "Out of His Head".)
• At the Earth's core, the Autobots should experience very little gravity, as the total mass of Earth would be reasonably equally distributed around them and therefore the pull of gravity would be cancelled out.

Continuity notes

• The entire backstory given by Ratchet is an adaptation of the first half of Transformers: Exodus.

Transformers references

• Optimus was originally known as Orion Pax, much like his namesake in the episode War Dawn.
• The Key to Vector Sigma first appeared in The Transformers two parter The Key to Vector Sigma, and later featured prominently in the first season of Beast Machines.
• Unicron mentally tortures Megatron into obedience. It's been done.
• Optimus calls upon the Matrix to "light our darkest hour".

Trivia

• This episode aired in Singapore on October 4, 2011, again preceding its American showing.
• Jack is clearly taking very good care of that Key Optimus gave him... by idly tapping it against a railing.
• This is the first time we've seen Soundwave "get his hands dirty." With how easily he trounces Airachnid, that's probably a good thing for the Autobots.
• According to the flashbacks, Megatron's optics are blue until he is rejected by the Council and storms out angrily.
• Fowler hugs June. Make of that what you will.
• Once more the Thirteen Original Primes make an appearance, as statue busts in the walls of the High Council this time.