Plus One (Prime)

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So, you come here often? I'm getting so damn tired of that joke!
"Plus One"
Production company	Hasbro Studios
Airdate	May 31, 2013
Written by	Greg Weisman
Directed by	Todd Waterman
Animation studio	Polygon Pictures

While on a mission to gather a Predacon bone relic, Agent Fowler finds himself in a tight squeeze with Jack's mother.

Synopsis

You must be new here if you thought those guys would actually pose a threat.

Raf picks up a signal from Scotland and GroundBridges Wheeljack back to the Autobot base. Arcee asks why he's returned alone, and Wheeljack disdainfully notes that the mission was a failure, and that the rest of his team will be returning via Ultra Magnus's ship. Fowler emerges from his office with reports of Decepticon activity in New Mexico. With Optimus Prime's team still in Texas and the rest of the Wreckers still en route, that leaves Arcee and Wheeljack to continue the hunt for Predacon remains. They bridge to Fowler's coordinates and end up right in the middle of a squadron of Vehicons. The two Autobots take them out quickly, impressing one another with their skills.

June arrives at the Autobot base to pick up medical supplies being donated by Fowler, who asks her to call him "William". Raf announces that he's discovered a Predacon talon in a museum, kept in storage because scientists didn't know how to classify it. Fowler volunteers to retrieve the fossil, and invites June to accompany him. She's reluctant at first, but is angered by the hypocrisy in Jack forbidding her from endangering herself, and agrees to go.

On the outer hull of the Nemesis, Megatron praises his new pet for successfully retrieving the fossil from Scotland. Knock Out reports the discovery of another Predacon energy signature, and Megatron orders him to acquire it. Starscream arrives to mock Knock Out, but Megatron halts their bickering by telling Starscream to take Knock Out's place on monitor duty. As Megatron and Knock Out return inside the ship, a frustrated Starscream kicks the Predacon's tail. The beast responds with a vicious tail swipe that narrowly misses Starscream and wrecks the ship's communications array.

In a cave in New Mexico, Arcee inquires as to Wheeljack's foul mood. Wheeljack tries to brush off her questions, but Arcee persists, claiming that she knows Wheeljack only pretends to prefer working solo.

Fowler and June emerge from the museum with the Predacon talon in tow, joking about the experience and comparing past relationships. Their bonding is interrupted by the arrival of Knock Out, who renders them unconscious with a beam of light. They awake in the Decepticon's trunk moments before he speeds off into the desert, leaving June's cell phone crushed on the ground. Knock Out attempts to request a GroundBridge, but is unable to make contact with the base.

On the Nemesis, Starscream rants about the Predacon disabling their communications network while a couple of Vehicons attempt to repair it. Starscream enters an override code into a nearby computer console to reboot the system, but this only produces a shower of sparks.

Jack is worrying about how long his mother is taking when he receives a call from Miko. She says that Bulkhead is worried about Wheeljack, and Jack explains that he's on a mission with Arcee. Miko is annoyed that Wheeljack would replace Bulkhead so quickly, but also admits that she expected the two lone wolves to hook up.

June and Fowler bicker within Knock Out's trunk until the Decepticon tells them to stifle themselves. He continues to attempt communication with the Nemesis, and June and Fowler begin devising an escape plan.

While digging in the cave walls, Wheeljack reveals to Arcee that Bulkhead, not Ultra Magnus, is the source of his current frustration. He feels his onetime partner has gone soft. Arcee tells him that people change and he has to either adapt or rust. She knows from experience the pain of losing a partner.

Now kiss!

Fowler emerges from Knock Out's trunk and into his vehicle interior, forcing the startled Decepticon to stop at a railroad yard by twisting his steering wheel and slamming on the break. June races from the car with the Predacon talon and Fowler flees in the opposite direction. Knock Out transforms and quickly finds Fowler hiding amongst the freight cars. He grabs Fowler and threatens to kill him if June doesn't reveal herself and the talon.

Jack tries calling his mother and Fowler, but both of their phones go straight to voicemail. Raf innocently suggests they went to a movie.

As he lugs a Predacon spine out of the cave, Wheeljack admits that he was wrong to abandon Bulkhead like he did. Arcee receives a distress call from Jack, who is now in the museum parking lot holding his mother's crushed phone and watching a set of tire tracks lead into the desert.

At the train yard, Knock Out notices a railcar pull away, revealing a defiant June. She tells Knock Out that she hid the fossil in one of the cars, and will only tell him which after he's let Fowler go. Knock Out realizes the fossil is most likely on the departing train car, grabs June, and heads after it.

On the Nemesis, a furious Megatron discovers that communications have been down for hours. No sooner does Soundwave get the network back online than Knock Out calls again, reporting that he has the Predacon bone in his sights and Wheeljack and Arcee on his tail.

A squad of Insecticons are GroundBridged to Knock Out's location and open fire on the pursuing Autobots. Wheeljack and Arcee fight back but continue to move forward. Knock Out reaches the freight car where the bone is hidden and launches himself into the air, transforming to robot mode as he does and letting June and Fowler drop. Below, Wheeljack transforms into robot mode, catches them, and transforms back into vehicle mode with the humans inside. Knock Out snatches the fossil and makes it through the Decepticon GroundBridge before Arcee can catch him.

At the Autobot base, Jack is relieved to see his mother, but less excited that she's taken to calling Fowler "Bill". Miko teases that Jack has also lost his Autobot partner to Wheeljack. But Wheeljack and Bulkhead quickly make up, much to Miko and Jack's delight.

Back at the Nemesis, Megatron congratulates Knock Out and chastises Starscream. While Starscream again blames the Predacon's bestial stupidity, the so-called beast is busy entering Starscream's access code into the computer console from earlier, calling up the ship's information on Predacons.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Arcee (3) Wheeljack (4) Ratchet (5) Bulkhead (14) Ultra Magnus (15)	Vehicons (7) Megatron (9) Predaking (10) Knock Out (11) Starscream (12) Soundwave (16) Insecticons (17)	Raf Esquivel (1) Jack Darby (2) William Fowler (6) June Darby (8) Miko Nakadai (13)

Quotes

"I wondered what was taking so long with those sodas."

—Raf has gotten used to Miko's disappearances.

"I didn't choose 'emergency' as my vehicle mode for laughs."

—Ratchet, the Autobots' secret weapon.

Wheeljack: Know what I love most about Vehicon troopers?
Arcee: They're easily distracted.

—Wrecker Fact #[Insert Number Here] on henchbots.

"I'll have you know, Nurse Darby, I was an Army Ranger and federal agent for Unit:E three decades before I ever heard the name 'Optimus Prime'."

—Agent Fowler gives June his credentials.

Megatron: Knock Out, do not return empty-handed.
Knock Out: Moi? Don't know the meaning of the word.
Starscream: Isn't 'empty-handed' two words?
Knock Out: You would know. Or did your missing armor turn up?

—Knock Out and Starscream try to impress the boss with a game of "so there"s.

"Knock Out to Lord Megatron. I have secured one vintage Predacon talon. Plus, two of the Autobots' pets, for you to employ as hostages, lab experiments...well, any way you see fit. So go on, Big M, tell me you love me more than Starscream."
[Comm static]
"My liege? Hello?"
[More static]
"Too familiar?"

—Knock Out gets the wrong idea from the communications blackout.

"Frankly, I find it repulsive. The whole idea of you fleshies...interfacing." [Shudders]

—Knock Out does not approve of humans Powerlinxing.

"Bromance trumps romance."

— Jack has it figured out.

Notes

Animation and technical errors

• Knock Out's jump over the train is awkwardly animated, to say the least. He rolls up the incline to the tracks, floats upward and rotates to his side when he should have barreled into the train, releases June and Fowler by transforming (and has somehow righted himself in the process), then grabs the bone and lands again.
• June Darby's car only has one working headlight when she arrives at the base.

Continuity errors

• The communication dish on the flight deck of the Nemesis didn't exist prior to this episode. In addition, it is initially shown to be on the port side of the vessel, but is on the starboard side (and facing the opposite direction) when Soundwave is working on it.
• Predaking copies Starscream's override code to access the communication array, but he was on the wrong side of the dish to see it when Starscream first used it.

Continuity notes

• Optimus Prime's unit went to 'oil country' in "Project Predacon".
• Wheeljack ditched his unit, the Decepticons recovered the Predacon fossil, and Starscream lost the Apex Armor in "Chain of Command".
• Jack traveled to Cybertron, much to his mother's discomfort, in "Orion Pax, Part 2".
• The complex equation Ratchet refers to is more than likely the synthetic energon formula, which he's been trying to recreate since "Project Predacon".
• Arcee still has the laser weapon she took from Ultra Magnus's arsenal in "Rebellion".
• The files accessed by Predaking are the same primitive renditions of Predacons that Ratchet showed to the others in "Project Predacon".
• While bickering, Starscream calls Knock Out a "wheel-bound" something (before Megatron cuts him off). He showed disdain for Knock Out's choice of alt-mode back in "Deus ex Machina".
• The museum in which Fowler and June find the Predacon talon appears to be the same one in which the Autobots found the Energon Harvester in "Deus ex Machina".

Transformers references

• Megatron refers to his upcoming Predacon army as Beast Machine super-soldiers.

Cultural references

• Unit:E is a reference to an organization in a 2011 comic book titled "Unit:E" published by Hasbro, uniting characters from series such as Jem, Micronauts and so on.
• Fowler refers to Warren Gamaliel Harding, who was President of the United States when the Predacon talon was excavated in 1922.
• The video game Jack is playing appears to be a knock-off of Galaga. Certainly a step-up from the generic racing game the kids played before.

Trivia

• This is the first (aired) Transformers story written by popular animation writer and producer Greg Weisman.
• Vehicons are named for the first time within the series.
• Pepper spray apparently works on optic sensors, just not nearly as long as it does on humans.
• Wheeljack's and Arcee's claim that the Vehicons are easily distracted is more obvious than it first appears, since they have Arcee and Wheeljack trapped yet just stand there while the former slowly tosses the latter into the air. Even after this they seem to pay no attention to the fight, and appear to barely wish to engage in combat, with extremely sluggish attacks and little, if any, return fire.
• Knock Out seems to be extremely adept with human catchphrases and terms, even with those he finds 'repulsive'. He's also picked up some French.