Comrade

File:ArmadaComrade titlecard.jpg

Armada episode #4

The Autobots race to the Grand Canyon to find a new Mini-Con, but struggle with the superior numbers of the Decepticons.

Preceded by: 3. Base
Succeeded by: 5. Soldier

Summary

At the Autobot base, Sirens alert the Autobots and their lovable human pals that a new Mini-Con panel has been activated. Hot Shot eagerly is willing to head directly to the area, but first, Alexis plugs her personal computer into the Autobot mainframe, and Sureshock manages to pinpoint the mini-con's location to where Carlos recognizes as being Big Canyon. The three Autobots, humans, and their Mini-Cons head out to claim the new panel, but first, Carlos and Alexis receive their new Autobot jump-suits that is easy for passing traffic to see at night. Rad is almost left behind, but eventually gets his own suit and catches up.

Rad worries about how the Autobots intend to get to Big Canyon quickly despite it being MILES away. Alexis suggests Rad just relaxes when Optimus startles the kids by informing them that the Autobots plan to warp to their destination. After the group arrives, Carlos decides to travel with his amigo Red Alert. Alexis hops into Hot Shot, and Optimus carries the Mini-Cons. This leaves Rad all on his own, and friendless.

On the moon, Megatron reasserts the Decepticon's objective of obtaining all the Mini-Cons. Starscream claims that Megatron's great leadership will be key to the Decepticon's success. After breaking up a squabble between Cyclonus and Starscream over who has dibs on the next discovered Mini-Con, Megatron has a hearty and evil laugh.

Back on Earth, Rad laments his lack of company. Eventually Alexis and Hot Shot return to pick him up. Alexis apologizes for forgetting Rad, she just became immersed in riding on Hot Shot, who really impressed her with his speed. Once Rad's inside, Hot Shot accelerates over rough terrain, causing severe discomfort to his human occupants who find him too rough. Rather than take care to be more gentle, Hot Shot torments the kids by going even faster.

Carlos meanwhile enjoys off-roading with Red Alert, but eventually Red Alert decides to stop having fun and retires his personality. Red Alert and Carlos continue on foot.

Hot Shot deploys his car mode's claws and stops suddenly, inches away from driving directly into a massive crevice. Hot Shot requests the Mini-Con's co-ordinates, but as Rad is ignorant of them, Laserbeak is deployed to relay visual data. Hot Shot apologizes for his aggressive driving, and Alexis mocks Rad's total lack of manliness. The three follow Laserbeak together. On the way, Alexis advises Rad that even if he has a low threat tolerance, he shouldn't let the Decepticons see his utter fear. Soon they discover an irregular rock formation that must signify the minicon's location.

Red Alert and Carlos, lost, continue to bicker.

On the moon, Megatron detects the Mini-Con panel, and sends Demolishor and Cyclonus to retrieve it. Starscream notices that despite his earlier praise of Megatron, he is forgotten.

Cyclonus arrives on Earth and attacks Hot Shot. Demolishor attacks Red Alert. Optimus rushes to retrieve the inactive Mini-Con on his own and releases the Street Action Team to aid Red Alert and Hot Shot.

With a battle plan formed, Red Alert dramatically turns around and balances to pass Demlolishor, who rotates his turret and opens fire. Red Alert turns around again and tries using his grapping line to pass Demolishor once more, but Demolishor's versatile aiming knocks the car off the rock face. Red Alert falls upside-down upon Demolishor and manages to continue on his course.

Cyclonus fires at the surrounding terrain to box Hot Shot in with rubble. Alexis and Rad abandon their friend. They see the three Mini-Cons Prime sent to support the Autobots and use them to ride to safety.

Prime finds the rock face with the Mini-Con panel embedded in it, when Megatron enters the battle and quickly opens fire while gloating about how inevitable the Decepticon's conquest is, but Optimus rebukes with "That's what you think!" Megatron unveils his own Mini-Con, when Starscream arrives to prove himself against Prime, despite having no orders from Megatron. Rad's yell of concern inspired the Street Action Team to combine into Perceptor, who manages to briefly disable both Starscream and Megatron.

With the Decepticons distracted, Prime activates the Mini-Con panel, which, to his disbelief, happens to be his old partner Sparkplug. Prime transforms into his Supermode and uses Sparkplug's power to knock the Decepticons away with his Maximum Blast. The four Decepticons promptly teleport back to their base.

With the Decepticon threat gone, the four kids and their minicons help free Hot Shot and Rad gives a voice over about the power of Optimus and Sparkplug's teamwork.

At the Decepticon's base on the Moon, Demolishor reports that, as per Megatron's instruction he disciplined Starscream. Megatron explains to his lackey that he is using a harsh punishment against Starscream to set an example to the other Decepticons to stay in line. He then laments the Autobot's victory.

Stats

Original airdate: September 21st, 2002 (North America)

Written by: ???

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans	Others
Hot Shot (1) Optimus Prime (5) Red Alert (6) Street Action Mini-Con Team (11) Sparkplug (13)	Megatron (7) Starscream (8) Cyclonus (9) Demolishor (10) Leader-1 (12)	Regulars Rad (2) Carlos (3) Alexis (4) Guests

Quotes

"Uh... guys? ... Guys?!? ... ANYBODY?"

-- Rad, after being ditched by everybody.

"This is all YOUR fault, Starscream."

-- Megatron, after his defeat at the hands of Optimus Prime's Maximum Blast attack.

Other Notes

Animation and/or technical glitches

• "Big Canyon" is possibly an "Engrish" translation of Grand Canyon.
• When describing how amazing Hot Shot's abilities are, she calls him Hot Rod. Hot Rod is Hot Shot's Japanese name, and also a prominent Generation 1 character to whom Hot Shot shares several traits.
• Optimus Prime refers to his minicon as Leader-1, which is the name of Megatron's Mini-Con. This mistake is repeated in Rad's closing narration.

Keywords

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  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.