Journey To The Valley Of Repugnus

« Transformers: Cyberverse ep 58 »
"Journey To The Valley Of Repugnus"
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	February 24, 2020 (UK)
Writer	Dan Salgarolo
Director	Jean Texier
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio

In search of Windblade, Grimlock journeys with Bumblebee to prehistoric Cybertron.

Synopsis

Exploring Cybertron's underworld with Grimlock, Bumblebee contacts Hot Rod to show off the now-flowing energon rivers. Hot Rod's not that keen on the place, as it's where he almost died in combat with Drift and emerged to find the Quintessons had taken over. Bumblebee and Grimlock resume their search for Windblade — Grimlock detects her psychic shard in the tunnels below them and as the way has been blocked by the energon river, he transforms to dinosaur mode intending to break through the ground. Instead the ground crumbles and the pair are swept away by the energon river.

Awakening at the bottom of a waterfall, Bee finds himself alone with Grimlock nowhere in sight. What is in sight is a huge metropolis of energon. As he's marveling at a tower, he's jumped from behind by Stinkus who starts draining his energon until he's rescued by the city's residents. The residents take him into the city proper, showing off a statue and introducing themselves as Energon Masters. Bumblebee realizes he should look for Grimlock, but the Energon Masters persuade him to come to the first energon party of the evening where they are sure someone can help. Bumblebee is impressed by the party, and when he sees grand leader Affluous is taking energon donations, assumes it's a charity event. He's proven wrong moments later when they reach the target of one million cubits and it turns out the energon is to power a fountain that showers everyone present with energon. Bumblebee is appalled at the waste, which offends Affluous, however the moment is defused as the party's singer is suddenly paralyzed by an energon surge — a condition Affluous identifies as "the shocks". She's enclosed in a bubble and taken away. Affluous also suggests Bumblebee leave, however when he tries to transform, he too suffers from the shocks and the guards take him away as well.

Elsewhere, Grimlock is unable to find Bumblebee, instead encountering a fleeing Repugnus. When Grimlock sees the swarm of Injectors pursuing the bug, he flees as well. They reach the rest of Repugnus's tribe, but while they hide safe in their burrows, Grimlock's too big to fit and the Injectors attack him. Enraged after they sting him in the rear, he swats one away with his tail and scares off the others with his fire breath. Repugnus labels him a hero after this and offers up his last cup of energon — as it turns out, the Energon Masters have hoarded the rest of the energon, leaving the bugs to scavenge for scraps. Grimlock isn't happy about this and sets out to get the energon for his new friends.

The guards lead Bumblebee to a cell and throw him in. He demands to be let go, but Affluous is happy with the way things are and knows Bumblebee will stir things up if he's set free. Once Affluous leaves, Bee recognizes the singer from the party, who says she gets the shocks every time she tries to do something. A bug prisoner, Teknicus, reveals he knows why and it's all his fault.

On the edge of the city, Grimlock and his bug followers assault a guard by the tower. Meanwhile Bumblebee powers up with multiversal energy and busts through the jail wall, starting a jailbreak. As the bugs drink from the energon river, Affluous directs his guards to attack, however Grimlock knocks them flying and advances on the Energon Master leader. Bumblebee and the freed prisoners arrive, at which point Bumblebee explains that both the bugs and Energon Masters have more similarities than they realize. Affluous angrily denies this, but Teknicus reveals that Affluous had him build the tower that causes the shocks. Bumblebee blasts the tower, destroying it, and the Energon Masters involuntarily transform, revealing their alternate modes are identical to Repugnus and his comrades. Repugnus assumes bot mode, and is surprised to find he looks just like the Energon Masters. Affluous protests he's not a bug, but when he too involuntarily transforms, he runs off, his treachery exposed and his people with minds of vengeance. Bee and Grimlock find Windblade's shard in the remains of the shock tower, and as they retrieve it, Grimlock notes that they will have quite a story for the restored cityspeaker.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Monsterbots	Others
Bumblebee (1) Grimlock (2) Hot Rod (3)	Stinkus (4) Coolus (5) Hippus (6) Raddus (7) Operatus (8) Affluous (9) Repugnus (10) Repugnus's tribe (12) Teknicus (13)	Injectors (11)

Notes

Continuity notes

• The episode opens in the energon lakes first featured in "Battle For Cybertron III." As Hot Rod reminds Bumblebee, this was the site where Drift betrayed them and he was dragged beneath a toxic pool of energon waste.
• Repugnus, and the forest he and his ilk live in, first appeared in "Battle For Cybertron IV."

Transformers references

• The creatures that attack the Repugnus' tribe are based on the Beast Wars character Injector.
• Ironically, some of Affluous's former guards are more color accurate to the original Repugnus than Repugnus himself.

Real-world references

• TBA

Other trivia

• TBA

Animation and technical errors

• Just before he starts transforming, Grimlock speaks with his dino mode voice without moving his lips.
• While the monsterbots lose or gain a good 3/4 of their mass when transforming, Teknicus is obscenely big in bug mode, losing only about 1/4 of his mass when transforming.

Foreign localization

• TBA

Home video releases

• TBA