Shadowstriker (episode)
| The name or term "Shadow Striker" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Shadow Striker (disambiguation). |
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| "Shadowstriker" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | October 14, 2018 (Canada) | |||||
| Writer | Kate Leth | |||||
| Director | Robert Cullen and Ehud Landsberg | |||||
| Animation studio | Boulder Media Studio | |||||
Bumblebee revisits memories of his arch-nemesis Shadow Striker and learns there's more to being a hero than just knowing how to fight.
Synopsis
Aboard the Decepticon scout ship, Bumblebee and Windblade spar with one another, and though Bumblebee gives it his best shot his friend is quickly able to overpower the yellow Autobot. The exercise is soon revealed to be another therapy session, in the hopes that Bumblebee will be able to rediscover some of his wartime prowess, but when a frustrated Bumblebee tells her to stop wasting her time, Windblade instead goes for her cortical psychic patch. Inside Bumblebee's mind, Windblade tries to remind Bumblebee of his time fighting in the Great War, and eventually convinces him to focus on his wartime memories, in the hopes of reminding him of this fact.
During the war for Cybertron, Optimus Prime has been captured by the ambitious elite soldier Shadow Striker and her Seeker underlings, relaying a message Megatron to inform him of their victory. The Decepticons are unaware, however, that Bumblebee has tailed the villains to their base, spying on the scene from above, and when Shadow Striker leaves her prisoner, Bumblebee drops from the roof and takes out the two Seekers. Bumblebee is about to shoot the lock, but realizes that the room is full of volatile energon, and instead opts to simply smash the lock keeping Prime chained up instead. Bumblebee tries to drag Prime to safety, but finds his way barred by a furious Shadow Striker!
When Bumblebee shouts that her reckless shots could kill them all, the Decepticon seemingly agrees, and leaps for Bumblebee with a pair of daggers. Just when it looks like Shadow Striker is about to kill Bumblebee, Prime comes round and clonks her on the head with a chunk of rubble. This doesn't stop her for long, however; as the pair make for the exit, Shadow Striker deploys her rifle and blasts away at the two Autobots. When Bumblebee returns fire with his own blaster, however, a stray shot hits one of the energon cubes in the room, and the entire building is blown to bits—taking Shadow Striker with it.
In his mind, Bumblebee momentarily enthuses over his wartime adventures, but soon wonders what happened to Shadow Striker. Windblade tells him that she eventually came back, "sort of..."
Atop a disabled energon tanker, Bumblebee dukes it out with a Seeker. Grimlock shouts for him to get clear, but Bumblebee isn't having it: if he bails out now, the ship will hit Iacon, and instead he draws his blaster and shoots his way into the ship's bridge. As he wrestles with the controls, however, he's alerted too late to the return of Shadow Striker, and in the scuffle Bumblebee is knocked unconscious.
When he comes too, the cargo ship has already crashed, sinking ever deeper into the surface of Cybertron. Before Bumblebee can make his escape, however, he's tackled by Shadow Striker — her body now a mismatched patchwork of robot parts—and though his stinger momentarily stuns her, it's not long before he's chased into a dead end. Shadow Striker shoots another energon leak, and in the explosion they're both pinned down by a fallen bulkhead. Pinned down and unable to escape as the ship sinks deeper, Shadow Striker grimly explains the circumstances behind her unlikely return: following their last battle, her remains were found by Shockwave, who pieced her back together using parts scrounged from what remained of her Seeker subordinates. Unable to fight the way she used to, Shadow Striker swore a new mission: vengeance against Bumblebee.
The conversation is cut short when another explosion blows the bulkhead loose, allowing Bumblebee to extricate himself, and though he momentarily considers putting down the still-trapped Shadow Striker, he ultimately shows his enemy mercy, blasting the bulkhead above her so that she too can escape. This proves to be a mistake, however—the Decepticon follows him up to the ship's deck, intending to finish him off... and is promptly blasted by Grimlock. Bumblebee, however, tells his friend to let Shadow Striker go, and the Decepticon transforms and zooms away.
In his mind, Bumblebee summarizes what he learned that day for Windblade: knowing how to fight is important, but it's also important to learn when not to fight, and with that, the pair return to their sparring.
Featured characters
Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
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Quotes
"The Bumblebee I know fought in countless battles, not only bravely, but with unparalleled skill."
"Sounds awesome! I wish I was him."
- — Windblade and Bumblebee
"Bee to Grimlock. I’ve located Optimus. I’m gonna try something, I don't think it's gonna work. Yep, probably won’t work. Wish me luck!"
- — Bumblebee
"A machete? Who uses that?"
- — Bumblebee on Shadow Striker's new weapons
Notes
Continuity notes
- Shadow Striker's changing appearance had been the subject of some speculation amongst fans following her earliest canonical appearance in "Megatron Is My Hero;" this episode explains why. We can, therefore, extrapolate that these two memories probably took place at some point between the second and third flashbacks depicted in the aforementioned episode.
- Bumblebee is shown wielding his old blaster here, which he recovered on Earth during the events of "Whiteout."
Transformers references
- Cycles are mentioned as a unit of time-keeping.
- "Sweet Solus Prime!" cries Bumblebee; this oath was first established in the 2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon as Strongarm's go-to catchphrase.
Real-world references
- TBA
Trivia
- TBA
Animation and technical errors
- TBA
Foreign localization
Home video releases
- TBA
