Wild Wild Wheel

« Transformers: Cyberverse ep 56 »
"Wild Wild Wheel"
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	February 21, 2020 (UK)
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio

A forgotten bot returns to Cybertron, looking for revenge.

Synopsis

On a seemlingly ordinary day at Maccadam's (now run by Perceptor follwing the death of Maccadam), things are pretty quiet and casual... until a hooded stranger enters demanding the location of Optimus Prime. Perceptor refuses, prompting the newcomer to grab his pistols and shoot the energon mugs on the bar.

As a shuttle lands on the Decepticon side of Cybertron, a mysterious bot steps out, shooing the shuttle away as he makes his way towards the city, where Dirge and Ramjet amuse themselves by harassingly shooting a Decepticon trooper. The mystery bot points out the unfairness of their game, and they make it fair by pointing both of the weapons at the newcomer... Who effortlessly snipes off their barrels before they can even fire a single shot. Intimidated by this disarmament, the coneheads opt to flee. The harassed trooper then thanks his supposed savior, but is bombarded with pistol fire as the mystery bot demands the location of Optimus Prime.

Making his way into Croaton City, the mystery bot gets ambushed by Insecticons. A showdown soon breaks out, and the mystery bot overpowers their attacks and lassos one of them, catching a ride on its back to the town square and meeting a furious Megatron. The warlord initially threatens the newcomer, but quickly sees an ally upon hearing him demand Optimus Prime. Leading him to the borders, Megatron offers a spot on the Decepticons to the newcomer before he takes off.

Muscling his way past a border, the newcomer follows a rancher's advice to Maccadam's Old Oil House, where a patron leads him to Cobalt Springs. Sure enough, Prime is there assisting in restoration efforts, including the erection of a massive Energon tower. Unfortunately, the tower is felled by a stampede, and after saving a few civilians, Prime comes face to face with the saboteur, who eventually reveals himself to his old comrade and crew-mate of the Ark, Wild Wheel.

As the Ark set off through the cosmos, Wild Wheel and a few other Autobots ended up in stasis. Unfortunately, the ship had a hull breach, and Wild Wheel was one of the many who fell through. His pod bursting open midway through the atmospheric re-entry, Wild Wheel crashed on Earth, landing in a swamp. Millions of years passed until he finally broke free, but by then it was the time of the wild west. Despite his apprehensions, Wild Wheel had to become an outlaw to survive, and committed thousands of crimes across the universe just to get a ride home. He was one the good guys, but Optimus left him on Earth to rot.

Hearing his story, a sorrowful Prime apologizes, and Wild Wheel responds by scaring the citizens on the sidelines. Prime once again offers Wild Wheel a chance to rejoin the Autobots, but the outlaw refuses, shooting Optimus and a civilian who tries to fight him. This merciless act convinces an outraged Prime to a standoff, and he promptly wins a showdown. Once again offering a chance to rejoin the Autobots, Optimus can only watch with guilt as Wild Wheel refuses yet again and heads off to Decepticon territory, knowing his life as an Autobot is over.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Others
Optimus Prime Perceptor	Megatron Shadow Striker Soundwave Ramjet Shrapnel Dirge	Wild Wheel

Notes

Continuity notes

• Wild Wheel's stasis pod was one of those seen getting sucked out of the Ark during Grimlock's flashback in "King of the Dinosaurs". (Hey, we totally called that it would be plot-relevant one day!)
• Perceptor seems to have taken over Maccadam's bar since his demise in "The End Of The Universe III".
• Speaking of Perceptor, his optics are still fried from his prison break in "The Battle For Cybertron I". Even if his microscope fills in for them just fine, you'd think Ratchet would at least take a look at them.

Transformers references

• In his flashback, Wild Wheel can be heard calling to Jazz.

Real-world references

• This episode features all the tropes of a story about the wild west, including a ranch, bar scenes, creature riding and even a showdown.
• Though Wild Wheel himself is an entirely new character created for this episode, his design—namely the hat, poncho, and gun-slinging skills—are based on the Man with No Name of Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy".

Other trivia

• In fairness to Wild Wheel's grudge, irrational and misplaced though it may be, in all this time none of his former crewmates have been shown sparing even a passing thought for him or his whereabouts. No wonder he's pissed. Of course, the out-of-universe explanation is that Wild Wheel was not conceived until this episode.

Animation and technical errors

• TBA

Foreign localization

• TBA

Home video releases

• TBA