Other Victories

« Beast Wars: Transformers ep 50 »
Sure is nice in the lifeless void.
"Other Victories"
Airdate	May 5, 1999
Written by	Larry DiTillio
Directed by	William Lau
Animation studio	Mainframe Entertainment
Continuity	Beast Wars continuity

The aliens send their powerful new emissary Tigerhawk to Earth to stop the continued disruption of the time stream.

French-Canadian title: La Victoire ("The Victory")

Japanese title: ただいまでござる (Tadaima de Gozaru, "I Hath Returned")

Latin-American title: Otras Victorias

Italian title: Un nuovo amico ("A new friend")

Brazilian name: Outras Vitórias

Synopsis

Oh yeah, we still have these two guys.

Somewhere in the vast universe, two entities are discussing the experiment on "Nexus Earth". Though the project was "sterilized", there remains a threat. The entities then reveal Tigatron and Airazor, then merge their bodies together, creating a new Transformer. The aliens inhabit the body and depart in a ball of energy, while two sparks follow.

Believe it or not, you may have better luck on Quintessa.

At the Predacon base, the Predacons are holding a "trial" for Quickstrike. Waspinator is the "defense", Dinobot and Rampage are the jury, Inferno is taking the minutes, and Megatron is the judge, not to mention the fact that he's all dressed up for the occasion. Quickstrike begs for mercy, saying he doesn't know what Tarantulas's intentions for destroying the Ark were, but offers to hunt him down for Megatron. Suddenly, the sensors detect an energy surge on a ballistic approach for the base. Tarantulas and Rhinox both detect the surge as well and recognize that it can only be one thing.

The aliens are back.

Flying Tiger, Hidden Dragon

The Predacons' automated defenses are ineffective against the anomaly, and Megatron orders them to abandon the base. Making contact, the energy ball destroys the Predacon ship instantly. Optimus Primal heads for the base, fearing that the spark of the original Megatron may have been destroyed, and sends Cheetor to assist.

From the ashes of the Predacon base, the alien Transformer appears and introduces himself as Tigerhawk, emissary of the Vok. He dispatches the other Predacons with ease, then sentences Megatron to death for his interference with the timestream. The two battle, but Tigerhawk is victorious. During the fight, Cheetor is incapacitated. As Tigerhawk prepares the killing blow, Optimus arrives. Tigerhawk greets him in a friendly manner, but asks him not to interfere. Optimus tries to explain Megatron's situation, but is entombed in the earth for his efforts. However, Tigerhawk is attacked by Tarantulas's spider drones, which allows Tarantulas to drag him to his lair. Meanwhile, an unconscious Cheetor dreams that he is visited by the sparks of Tigatron and Airazor, who fuse together before he is attacked by the two Vok seen in the beginning of the episode. He wakes up to see the fused spark, which guides him to the lair and the emissary.

The most hardcore death of Beast Wars.

At the lair, Tigerhawk revives and claims to know Tarantulas. The mad scientist states that he intends to use Tigerhawk to destroy the Maximals while he detonates the Ark. He also reveals why he wants to destroy it: Tarantulas and the Tripredacus Council are not descendants of the Autobots and the Decepticons, but have "other origins". This would allow them to control Cybertron and conquer the universe. Cheetor jumps in around this time and looks on amazed at the scene. As Tarantulas activates the deprogramming device, the two Vok entities emerge from Tigerhawk's mouth and enter him. The device then shoots a bolt of energy at Tarantulas, which throws him into a nearby Energon crystal. The crystal detonates, destroying Tarantulas and the two aliens in a freakish yet totally hardcore manner. Cheetor manages to drag Tigerhawk out, but is knocked unconscious when the lair explodes.

Optimus locates Cheetor and Tigerhawk as the merged sparks of Tigatron and Airazor enter the emissary. Welcoming their old friends and new friend back, the Maximals depart for home…as Megatron watches on.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons	Others
Airazor (3) Tigatron (4) Tigerhawk (5) Rattrap (13) Rhinox (14) Optimus Primal (15) Blackarachnia (16) Cheetor (17)	Inferno (6) Megatron (7) Dinobot II (8) Quickstrike (9) Rampage (10) Waspinator (11) Tarantulas (12)	Magenta-eyed Vok (1) Yellow-eyed Vok (2)

Quotes

"Ooooo, Waspinator like defense! A little more defense, and maybe Waspinator not get blown up all the time!"
gulp "Looks like this is my last round-up."
"Aheh-ahem! Two-Head throw Megatron in lava pit. Megatron angry. Think Two-Head a traitor. Want to slag Two-Head. Waspinator down with that!"

—Waspinator "defends" Quickstrike.

"I — I plum don't know! But I do know this. That dang spider double-crossed both of us. I'd be happy to track him down for ya, a-and kick his keister!"
"Ah hah hah. 'Dang spider'. I applaud your good intentions. But we are through being lenient with traitors!"

—Quickstrike learns that Megatron is no longer tolerant of treachery.

"Well, i-i-if it's not a comet, what is it?"
"Somethin' I thought we'd never see again."

—Rattrap and Rhinox, monitoring Tigerhawk's approach toward prehistoric Earth.

"Looks like the Beast Wars are over... FOR THE PREDS! Eheheh! Eheheh!" [looks for high-five]

—Rattrap after the Predacon base is destroyed.

"They're back... just like Tarantulas always said they'd be."

—Blackarachnia

Tigerhawk: "I am Tigerhawk, emissary of the Vok. Your form's changed, but I know you, Megatron. The Vok charge you with the willful disruption of time and space. Surrender to me immediately. Violence will not be tolerated."
Megatron: [chuckles] "Megatrons do not surrender." [transforms to robot mode] "We conquer! Predacons, attack!"

"This is my world now. YOU have no place in it!"

—Megatron has a low opinion of squatters.

"Just when things were finally looking up... eheheh... we're all gonna die."

—Rattrap after the situation has been explained to him.

"You're insane!"
"So they say. Bblbllllaah!"

—Tarantulas proves Tigerhawk's assertion.

Notes

Technical or animation errors

• As the Predacons scramble for battle stations, Megatron's eyes are green instead of their usual purple.
• Before Megatron orders to abandon the Darksyde, Waspinator screams "What should we do?!", then he just vanishes into thin air.
• As the Predacons open fire on Tigerhawk, Dinobot II fires a green beam instead of a red one.
• When Tarantulas' arachnoids attack Tigerhawk, he is missing the green visor over his eyes when one latches onto his face.

Continuity errors

• Despite being described as having "different origins" than being Decepticon descendants, in "The Agenda", the Tripredacus Council specifically refer to the Decepticons as being their ancestors while talking in private to themselves. Bit of a glaring retcon there (We could be charitable and assume they meant the Decepticon-born Cybertronian Empire).
• Considering at least some time has passed since the last episode, there's no logical explanation for why no one had bothered to explain to Rattrap that Megatron now had the original Megatron's spark and thus why he needed it explained to him in this episode. Nor has Rattrap been portrayed as anything but intelligent up until this point so that he'd need this explained to him a second time if we're to assume they did tell him and he just... forgot. This was likely only done to serve as exposition for the audience.

Continuity notes

• Cheetor has his last of four strange dreams in this episode, wherein Airazor and Tigatron appear to him and fuse together before his eyes. When he wakes up, he sees and follows the new joint spark over the landscape. He also sees the Vok in this dream before he sees them in real life, perhaps because Tigerhawk shows him or perhaps precognitive.
• Not only is this the first time that Airazor and Tigatron have appeared since being abducted in "Other Visits," it's the first time they've even been mentioned by other characters. Some friends the Maximals are.
• In the comics continuity, Tarantulas survives this encounter and really used it as a means to absorb the Vok. That makes the fact that this super genius character idiotically killed himself by repeatedly blasting his death ray machine thing until it turned around and killed him... a little easier to swallow.
• This is the last episode to show Tarantulas, The Vok, Tigatron, Airazor and the Darksyde.
• The Nemesis is seen on Tarantulas's computer. It will have significance in the series finale. They also show he's got the warship ready to be activated, so its presence on his computer screen may (in-universe) mean he was about to use it himself...
• When Tigerhawk is under the influence of the Vok his optics are solid green. Once Tigatron and Airazor's sparks enter his body, his optics are red with a yellow slit pupil.
• The gun Dinobot uses durring Quickstrike's trial is one of the guns Rampage used in The Agenda Part III.

Real-world references

"The power of Christmas compels you!"

• During Quickstrike's court-martial, Megatron wears a barrister's wig like those worn by British attorneys and judges. Inferno acts as stenographer (complete with typewriter).
• As the Vok approach Tarantulas, he attempts to ward them off by forming a crucifix with his fingers, a sacred item often used to ward off vampires in folklore.

Trivia

• This episode really wants you to buy a Tigerhawk toy. Can you tell?
• In a bit of classic irony, Tarantulas has been trying to destroy the Vok for most of the series and has been attempting to manipulate their creations towards his own plans. However when he actually faces the Vok themselves he utterly loses it and just starts shooting like a maniac out of fear.
• While Tigerhawk is easily able to defeat six Predacons and hold off an entire Decepticon warship by himself, he is no match for a group of arachnoids.

Home video releases

All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.

VHS

2000 — Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers: Metals — We Have Returned (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Volume 4 (Universal)

DVD

2000 — Beast Wars: Transformers: Metals — DVD Box 2 (Pioneer LDC) — English and Japanese audio.
2004 — Beast Wars: Transformers — The Complete Third Season (Rhinomation)
2006 — Beast Wars: Transformers — Season 3 (Madman Entertainment)
2009 — The Transformers: Beast Wars — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment)