Linkup
From MediaWiki
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| "Linkup" (Link Up) "Fusion: Link Up" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-26 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | January 29, 2003 (UK, English premiere) January 31, 2003 (USA) 4 July 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Isao Shizuya | |||||
| Director | Osamu Kamijō | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
With Optimus in the repair bay, Jetfire is the Autobots' best hope against the Decepticons.
Synopsis
Optimus Prime has been badly damaged in a recent battle with the Decepticons, and the prognosis is uncertain. Red Alert tells the kids that Jetfire will take over Optimus's role while the leader is in the repair bay. Hot Shot is not impressed by Jetfire's overconfident bragging, and neither are the kids.
Demolishor is also unimpressed, but at the failure of Thrust's plan. Starscream and Cyclonus are merely amused by its failure, and Thrust blames it on a miscalculation in the form of Jetfire. He says he'll come up with a new plan and takes some shooting stars as a sure sign of victory.
The Autobots discuss Thrust and how he led the Decepticons to victory on the planets Vector, Orga and Duke, almost wiping out the Autobots. Carlos thinks that while they have Jetfire on their team, they don't have anything to worry about on that score. High Wire attempts to report to Jetfire, but the Autobot doesn't speak Mini-Con, and Rad has to translate that there's a suspicious bot flying over the base. They soon recognise Thrust, and Jetfire immediately runs off to confront the Decepticon.
Thrust takes off as soon as he sees Jetfire coming, goading the Autobot into following. Unsurprisingly, they reach a zone where the Decepticons are waiting, and the kids plead with Jetfire not to fire on the swarm of Mini-Cons accompanying them. He assures them he won't and shoots at Cyclonus, who protests that Thrust said the Autobot wouldn't fire with the Mini-Cons around. Thrust orders the Mini-Cons to attack, and soon Jetfire is being strafed with laser fire. Starscream closes in, but Jetfire is able to dodge the null laser cannon.
At base, the Autobots puzzle over how they're going to help Jetfire, when Alexis spots an island near where the battle is taking place. Smokescreen, Hot Shot and Blurr warp to the island, and Smokescreen prepares to fire his longarm cannon, but is blasted by Demolishor and Sideways. Demolishor boasts that Thrust's plan is to steal the Skyboom shield and opens fire on the Autobots, who are forced to use the shield for cover.
Scavenger, still at base, admires the Decepticons' trap, but the kids think he should take action. Rad contacts Red Alert in the repair bay, informs him of the situation, and lets him know they need Optimus.
Megatron arrives on the island and tells his men to get on with it and demand the Shield from the Autobots. At Hot Shot's goading, Megatron calls the Star Saber to him and begins the attack anew. Hot Shot suggests they should withdraw. Smokescreen is confident the Skyboom Shield will protect them, but the other two Autobots talk him into withdrawing. The trio begin their escape, hampered by the Decepticons' weapons fire.
Jetfire attempts to come to their aid, but is surrounded by the Air Military Mini-Con Team and is again almost blasted by Starscream. He flies towards the Decepticon, but is grazed by a blast from the null laser cannon. Again surrounded by the Mini-Cons, he's unable to take a shot at Thrust.
Red Alert reports that Optimus is almost combat ready, and Carlos stresses the urgency of the situation.
On the island, Megatron has Smokescreen pinned down while Blurr and Hot Shot are busy with Demolishor and Sideways.
While Red Alert and Scavenger are about to join the battle, an alarm indicates that someone's in the launch area: Optimus Prime! Though Red Alert and the kids protest that he's not ready, Optimus asks to be warped to Jetfire's coordinates.
As Thrust and Starscream prepare to finish off Jetfire, Optimus appears overhead. The Autobot leader freefalls towards Jetfire, and the pair combine. After making short work of Starscream, Optimus flies to the island and knocks Megatron into the ocean. For an encore, he picks up Demolishor and drops the protesting Decepticon into the water as well. Sideways wisely retreats. The impressed kids cheer.
Optimus suggests to Jetfire that he might want to be a bit more cautious next time, to which the Autobot says he's learnt his lesson.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
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Quotes
"He'll be signing autographs later."
- —Hot Shot on Jetfire's smug boasting
"It's time for you to taste my plasma blaster. See if this makes your teeth whiter and brighter."
- —Jetfire, shooting at Cyclonus
"I am Demolishor, the fierce Decepticon warrior!"
- —Demolishor introduces himself 26 episodes too late.
"In your dreams! If you want it, why don't you come and get it? That is, unless you're a little bit of a wimp. Well, are ya?"
- —Hot Shot taunts Megatron. Brave lad.
"They don't call him Starscream for nothing."
- —Optimus after Starscream falls screaming through the clouds
Notes
Differences with Micron Legend
- Although numerous minor changes were made to the animation in Micron Legend, "Linkup" is one of the most prominent examples. Multiple scenes were completely redrawn and reanimated with higher quality animation, in comparison to the Armada airings. Among the changes: problems such as Jet Optimus being drawn in his Super Mode colors, along with having the wrong legs, have been fixed, while numerous close-up shots were also redrawn.[1]
- Unlike Armada, which uses static shots of Jetfire and the kids and a scene of Hot Shot from later in the episode, Micron Legend has fully animated scenes of them and, instead of Jetfire's "cocky superhero" dialogue, the Japanese dub maintains the overall tone of the scene to show Jetfire's overconfidence but adds that he was considered Optimus' "greatest right-hand Sub-Commander" on Cybertron; it also changes Hot Shot's line about Jetfire signing autographs to him pointing out how the latter brags about himself, to which Jetfire says is one of his strengths.
- The first zoom out from Megatron as he laughs is faster in Micron Legend while the second one is slower. Additionally, in Armada, the background with the jagged edges surrounding Megatron is mistakenly seen first since it's supposed to go over the background with the hole in the ship, as seen earlier as Demolishor was speaking; Micron Legend corrects this.
- Micron Legend reanimates the scene of Billy and Jetfire talking. Now, Jetfire's finger comes up when Billy starts talking, Billy's fist and Jetfire's finger line up for a moment before the latter puts his finger down, Carlos speaks to Jetfire after Billy finishes, and Jetfire talks after turning away. Micron Legend also has Jetfire animated to look down when he hears High Wire.
- When Sureshock and Alexis speak, Micron Legend shows the Mini-Con while the kids are in the background; Armada strangely cuts to a still of the later shot of Smokescreen, Jetfire, and Hot Shot, reuses the shot as the Autobots react to seeing Thrust on the monitor, and their mouths don't move. Armada also has an awkward silence before Jetfire leaves the scene; in Micron Legend, the Autobots' mouths are animated with Smokescreen having a line where he asks Jetfire what they should do, and when Jetfire runs off, he goes completely off-screen and Hot Shot is seen reacting to it.
- In Armada, the camera zooms into the monitor as Alexis warns Jetfire, and when the scene cuts back to the monitor later, it's silent. Micron Legend has the camera zoom away from the monitor, and Rad's line about telling Jetfire not to shoot at the Decepticons' Mini-Cons is heard during the second viewing of the monitor; the Japanese dub also has the monitor show fully animated images similar to actual video footage instead of stills as Armada has, and the second shot of the monitor has a bit more room around the sides, making the buttons on the right in full view while Armada has them cut off.
- Proper coloring, shadows, and additional details are added to the profile shot of Jetfire preparing to fire his Plasma Blaster at Cyclonus. In Armada, Jetfire's blast is a plain straight shot but it's out of proportion and wide enough to take up most of the two shots it's in; in Micron Legend, the red beam is smaller in width and has branches along the sides.
- Rather than say that Thrust is right about underestimating him, Jetfire says he never hesitates to face the bad guys. During this shot in Armada, Jetfire moves away from the camera before it zooms in towards his leg for an extreme close-up, and the Autobot isn't animated at all; Micron Legend has Jetfire only comes towards the camera and as he does, we get an animated close-up of him from top to bottom.
- In the next shot, Armada has an unanimated Jetfire over clouds moving in the background; Micron Legend has Jetfire moving away from the camera. The English dub also has Jetfire's feet positioned wrong but Micron Legend fixes this as well.
- After Thrust calls for a cross-fire attack, there is a clear look at the Air Military Mini-Con Team. Jetfire is not only heard reacting to the shots as he takes them but he also says "So that's how you want to play this?" Cyclonus' line about getting payback is changed to "We'll just give it back to ya!"
- The animated shot of Smokescreen getting his crane-arm blasted off wasn't included in Armada. Instead, after stock footage of Smokescreen readying his launcher, the shot cuts to a reused close-up shot of his face until the sound of an explosion is heard, the screen then switching to Hot Shot and Blurr. The Japanese dub also corrects Smokescreen's line and changes it from "Wait a second, who is that?" to "But who did that?!"
- The shot of Scavenger admiring Thrust's plan is changed from a profile to a reanimated frontal close-up.
- When Rad calls Red Alert for an update on Optimus, Rad points at the console in Armada but Micron Legend animates his arm so that it goes out of frame.
- When he is contacted by Rad, Red Alert is fully redrawn, the shot doesn't zoom in, and the lights in Optimus' dashboard don't blink.
- In Armada, when Megatron tries to strike the Autobots with the Star Saber, a big rock appears behind Smokescreen and it's suddenly split in half; Micron Legend shows the Star Saber swipe across the scene and take out a chunk of the background.
- The scene of Jet Optimus shooting Starscream down is heavily reanimated as the shot of Starscream now shows him flying to the left above the clouds, Jet Optimus, in his correct colors, flies into the frame and fires at the Decepticon. The shot of Jet Optimus firing at Starscream is now a wider shot with a clearer view of the Autobot.
- The shot of Starscream falling from the sky as Megatron sees him is sped up in Armada as, by the time Megatron turns around, Starscream has already fallen out of frame; this isn't an issue in Micron Legend since Starscream falls at a slower rate, and when Megatron turns, he actually sees Starscream falling. In Armada, a bright flickering flash is used to portray Starscream being shot in the clouds; Micron Legend changes this to a subtle glow effect.
- After this, as Megatron sees Jet Optimus approach him, Micron Legend adds shadows around Megatron's eyes, the shots of Prime approaching in the distance are still images, Jet Optimus isn't as close to Megatron in the shot of Megatron trying to block him with the Star Saber, and the shot of Megatron falling is slightly slowed down though the shot is the same length as the Armada version.
- In the shots of Jet Optimus carrying Demolisher, dropping him, and the shot afterward, Jet Optimus appears to be hovering in Armada; Micron Legend corrects this error by adding the propulsion effect to Jet Optimus's feet.
- The Japanese dub lacks an opening narration.
- In Micron Legend, Fred asks if Optimus is broken, so Billy calls him an idiot and says it's more accurate to say that Optimus is injured since he's still alive.
- In Micron Legend, Demolishor is addressing Thrust during his rant and even mentions the Air Military Mini-Con Team.
- The camera panning over from Demolishor to Starscream and Cyclonus is faster in Micron Legend.
- Instead of threatening Thrust that his next plan better not fail, Megatron entrusts him with forming a new strategy.
- The shots of the EKG and Optimus on the screen are silent.
- In Armada, the camera makes a disorientating continuous pan from Blurr to Hot Shot and then Scavenger and back to Hot Shot; Micron Legend removes the continuous camera movement and has it quickly pan to Hot Shot and Scavenger when they speak so their lines don't begin off-screen. Also, Armada has Scavenger say Hot Shot would've been "too young to battle on Cybertron" to have heard of Thrust; Micron Legend fixes the wording so that Scavenger says Hot Shot would've been fairly young during that battle.
- The first planet Blurr mentions when he talks about Thrust is Vector in Armada but Micron Legend changes it to Babil, and the next three are Orga, Droi, and Duke.
- In Armada, Hot Shot says the Autobots were thrashed and almost wiped out due to Thrust; in Micron Legend, he asks Blurr if those other planets are where Autobots were utterly crushed.
- When Jetfire asks why High Wire didn't tell him earlier about the suspicious bot flying over the base, Rad translates that High Wire said he did say that before. Then Jetfire remarks on how hard it is to understand the Mini-Con's language.
- Jetfire's "Ready or not, Thrust. Here I come" line is changed to "I can't stand it when someone else is flying over my head!"
- During the shot where Thrust gives the order to attack in Armada, Micron Legend gives Jetfire a line before Thrust.
- A rainbow ring is added around Jetfire's shadow against the clouds.
- After Jetfire transforms, Armada plays the theme tune while Micron Legend continues the music from the previous scene.
- Cyclonus laughs after telling the Mini-Cons to follow him instead of before.
- In Armada, Billy comments on how Jetfire is enjoying himself before Carlos cheers the Autobot on; in Micron Legend, Billy says Jetfire is too easy-going and Carlos says he (himself) is enjoying what he sees before cheering for Jetfire.
- The Japanese dub adds a green filter effect to the shot of Starscream's crosshairs locking onto Jetfire, and just before firing his Null Laser Cannon, Starscream says "Take this!"
- In Armada, after the clouds part and the Null Laser Cannon blasts approach Jetfire, it cuts to a shot of Jetfire dodging them and the scene whites out. In Micron Legend, the shot doesn't cut away and the white-out effect is gone, and there's an added scene of the blasts hitting the ocean before panning over to Jetfire.
- The bird's eye view of the island in Armada is a generic flat drawing with no detail, and the surrounding water is equally flat. In Micron Legend, they are fully detailed with depth in the colors.
- Armada plays the theme tune as the Autobots warp to the island.
- Instead of pointlessly introducing himself as he does in Armada, Demolisher announces himself as "The Decepticons' greatest warrior".
- After the camera pans from Demolishor to Sideways, the shot focuses on Sideways a second shorter than it does in Armada.
- In the shot of Blurr, Smokescreen, and Hot Shot taking cover after Demolishor asks where Optimus is, Smokescreen's longarm cannon is miscolored as dark blue in Armada but the Japanese dub makes it the correct shade.
- Armada has Megatron act like he's taken aback by Hot Shot challenging him, but Micron Legend has him offended by the Autobot being foolish enough to refuse his "only act of mercy".
- Instead of calling Smokescreen too weak to handle the Skyboom Shield, Megatron says Smokescreen can't handle the shield's power since Optimus isn't around.
- After this, Demolishor and Sideways agree to strike the Autobots with two simultaneous assaults in Armada. In Micron Legend, Demolisher asks the Autobots if they can handle another collision between the shield and the Star Saber, and Sideways says the reaction this time might be bigger.
- Armada plays the theme tune when the Autobots transform and retreat as Megatron tries to strike them with the Star Saber.
- Micron Legend flips the shot of Jetfire dodging Starscream's second Null Laser Cannon so that he's on the right rather than left, though in this case, the Armada version is the correct one.
- Armada shows merely a large geyser from the impact of the Null Laser Cannon before the scene flash cuts to Jetfire, while Micron Legend has the background glow purple as a giant wave is made by the impact with the flash cut removed.
- After telling Jetfire he's trapped, Thrust says his plan will ensure that the Autobot stays that way so Jetfire's body will have to hold out.
- When Jetfire gets hit by Starscream, the Null Laser Cannon beam is extended, and the clouds don't disappear when Jetfire falls.
- Before the cables attached to Optimus disconnect, Armada extends Carlos's line to cover the silence.
- The shot of Megatron facing an injured Smokescreen is cropped on the top and right so that half of Smokescreen is out of frame, and Megatron looks a bit closer in the frame and more imposing.
- Carlos tells Scavenger to quit admiring Thrust's handiwork.
- In Armada, when Rad asks Red Alert and Scavenger what will happen to Optimus if they leave and they don't answer, his body faces the side and his arms are bent, and he doesn't move again until Carlos says his lines about Optimus still being immobilized and that someone should stay behind. In Micron Legend, Rad asks Red Alert if Optimus is supposed to be his top priority, and at the end of his line, Rad repositions his body and arms. Red Alert tries to answer Rad before Carlos says Optimus is still inactive and that it's Red Alert's job to take care of Prime.
- In Armada, Alexis asks "Who's that?", after which there is a "Humph" sound, and Alexis says someone's on the launching dock; in Micron Legend, Alexis asks "What is that?", Scavenger asks what's going on, and Alexis says the launch gate has been activated.
- Optimus requests to be warped to Thrust's position instead of Jetfire's. This fixes the error in Armada since Optimus warps and appears near Thrust despite asking to be warped to Jetfire's coordinates.
- Optimus was in the repair bay for maintenance and he's told not to leave to help Jetfire as the maintenance was incomplete and a lot of his important systems had not been rebooted yet.
- When Optimus tells the others to trust him before Scavenger enters the coordinates, he says the line immediately in Armada but two seconds after the scene cuts from Fred in Micron Legend, lessening the silence in the scene.
- Armada starts playing the theme song as Optimus heads out and it ends after Jet Optimus drops Demolishor into the ocean. In Micron Legend, the music changes as Optimus and Jetfire combine and ends during the pan-up shot of the redrawn Jet Optimus.
- When Thrust tells Starscream to begin the final assault in Armada, the camera pans to the upper-left as soon as Thrust speaks and stays on his arm until he finishes his line. In Micron Legend, the camera pans after he says Starscream's name and the shot ends as soon as Thrust extends his arm. Starscream responds in the very next shot in Micron Legend but during the shot of him locking onto Jetfire in Armada. The shot of Starscream is also redrawn in the Japanese version and the jagged movement is removed.
- Starscream's targeting crosshairs are brighter and easier to see, and after Optimus appears, he calls him out to Thrust by name and Thrust is heard reacting.
- In Micron Legend, after Optimus falls past Thrust while freefalling, Carlos and Fred are worried about Optimus getting smashed to bits from the fall after Thrust dodges him; their mouths are also reanimated as Carlos speaks first and Fred does after him. In Armada, they let out cheerful and encouraging screams for Optimus despite having worried facial expressions.
- As a subtle visual hint, Micron Legend adds a small white twinkle in Optimus' and Jetfire's eyes as they trade glances before initiating their combination.
- Optimus and Jetfire speak in unison during their combination sequence.
- The reactionary dialogue of Thrust and Sideways concerning Optimus and Jetfire combining are altered in Micron Legend, as they are confused about what just happened. Also, instead of Red Alert asking "What is this?", he just refers to Optimus.
- Jet Optimus doesn't make the "Starscream" pun in the Japanese dub, instead he comments about having taken care of one pest.
- The close-up shot of Demolishor firing at Jet Optimus is cropped, and his lasers are more brightly colored so that his fingers aren't as visible in the Japanese dub. In this shot, he also asks who Jet Optimus is.
- In Armada, Demolishor says he hates water before Jet Optimus drops him while, in Micron Legend, he yells that he's afraid of heights while he falls.
- After the battle, as Thrust stands on the cloud and looks below him, he fixes himself upright immediately after saying he didn't know Optimus and Jetfire were capable of combining. He also laughs as he transforms and flies away.
- Alexis expresses relief instead of agreeing with the praises made by Carlos, Billy, and Fred. Then Scavenger notes how Optimus and Jetfire can combine, and how he never imagined they could pull it off before congratulating them.
- In Micron Legend, Optimus chuckles and warns Jetfire to be more cautious after looking up. He speaks to Jetfire immediately in Armada.
- Jetfire mentions that he and Optimus fought together in the Air Brigade on Cybertron. The shot of Optimus after this is fully redrawn with him facing the camera, telling Jetfire to not let his guard down since they're on the front lines.
- Instead of Smokescreen snarking about Jetfire being lucky that Optimus showed up, he laments how he, Hot Shot, and Blurr couldn't save Jetfire themselves. After this, Hot Shot says what a pain it was on how Thrust toyed with them, and in agreement, Blurr states that he's upset about their lack of foresight.
- In Armada, after Jetfire says there's nothing to worry about now that he's here, Hot Shot snarks at him for forgetting his lesson to take things more seriously; in Micron Legend, Hot Shot interrupts Jetfire, tells him not to get carried away, and asks if he's already forgotten that they are on the front lines.
- During Rad's ending narration in Micron Legend, he says Jetfire is slightly overconfident he is raising the team's spirits but despite his mistakes. Armada ignores the issue of Jetfire's overconfidence, and instead Rad says this was their introduction to Jetfire and that the team would need his "contagious optimism" to face future battles; with the English version, Rad referring to this as an intro to Jetfire could mean in terms of his personality since he technically first appeared in the previous episode.
Animation and technical errors
- When Red Alert tells the kids about Optimus' status in the opening scene, the headlights on his chest are miscolored.
- During the close-up of Demolishor after zooming into the Decepticon base, the brown on the right side of his face "bleeds" into the outer yellow part.
- During the scene of Cyclonus and Starscream finding amusement in Thrust's plan failing, their mouths don't move and Starscream's wings are missing. These are fixed in the Japanese dub.
- The Decepticon insignia on Megatron's chest disappears in several scenes.
- When Smokescreen says, "It's Thrust?" he lacks his antenna/horn. He's missing it again when the Autobots are looking at Thrust on a monitor, a third time when he says, "Optimus sir", and a fourth time when the Autobots are laughing at the end.
- When Rad translates what High Wire is trying to tell Jetfire, Rad says "They" (referring to High Wire, Sureshock, and Grindor) instead of "He".
- In the shot of the children, Smokescreen, Jetfire, and Hot Shot looking at the monitor, the Autobot insignia on Jetfire's chest is missing.
- When Jetfire flies after Thrust, the glare on the Decepticon is miscolored orange; Micron Legend changes it to white.
- One shot shows Jetfire flying towards the Decepticons and the Mini-Cons but no sign of Thrust in front of him, only for Thrust to suddenly return in the next shot; the Japanese dub fixes this by replacing Jetfire with Thrust.
- As Laserbeak flies behind Thrust, the Decepticon's underbelly stops moving, and despite going behind Thrust, Laserbeak is still able to get a clear picture of what's going on. The monitor shows a still image with Jetfire in the shot among the Decepticons and later the monitor shows another still image of the 'Cons without Jetfire.
- When Thrust states that he didn't think Jetfire would attack, Thrust is colored orange instead of black.
- In the shot from behind where Jetfire is in the clouds, his feet are positioned wrong with his left foot up instead of his right.
- During Thrust's cross-fire attack, Jetstorm is miscolored gray, and the shots fired by Cyclonus and the Mini-Cons are yellow instead of purple. Fixed in the Japanese dub.
- Starscream's Null Laser Cannons are miscolored red and, in the first shot of the blasts going through the clouds, they look like individual shots.
- In the overhead shot of Hot Shot, Blurr, and Smokescreen retreating, Smokescreen doesn't have the Skyboom Shield.
- In the shots after Megatron shows up with the Autobots in the background, Smokescreen's crane arm looks undamaged.
- Thrust refers to the Air Military Mini-Con Team as the Air Defense Team (who are currently busy being the Star Saber).
- When Megatron attacks Smokescreen with the Star Saber, the Skyboom Shield is miscolored blue and orange like the Autobot's body, and Smokescreen's arm is miscolored in the shield's colors. Corrected in the Japanese dub.
- When setting the warp coordinates for Optimus, Scavenger refers to them as the "landing" coordinates. The problem being there's no such thing as landing in mid-air. Micron Legend has Scavenger say "the arrival point" instead.
- As Optimus freefalls toward Thrust, there's a shot of him with his arms ahead of him like Superman but in the next shot, when Thrust dodges him, Optimus' arms are at his sides again. Micron Legend corrects this by having Prime's arms at his sides all the way through.
- After the scene of Carlos' and Fred's reaction, Optimus is seen with his thrusters active and cloud trails coming from his body. However, they are suddenly gone in the next shot of Optimus falling towards Jetfire. Micron Legend removes these details.
- The combined form of Optimus and Jetfire is referred to throughout as "Jet Convoy", the Japanese name for Jet Optimus.
- Jet Optimus is drawn incorrectly three times. When firing at Starscream, his chest is colored red instead of white and has a red Decepticon insignia. After that, as he grabs Demolishor, his legs are shown as those of his trailer. Later, when Jet Optimus is landing on the island, he is shown with his lower body being from his trailer, instead of them being Jetfire.
- When Starscream falls through the clouds after he's shot down, the cloud wisps are miscolored to look like dark gray smoke. This is corrected in Micron Legend.
- For some reason in Micron Legend, as Jet Optimus flies towards Demolishor, Demolisher's shots are corrected to be Decepticon purple instead of Autobot red as they are in Armada, but they're red in the next shot, while Armada has Demolishor's shots miscolored red throughout.
- Multiple times, Carlos' eyes have whites. Micron Legend removes the whites from his eyes.
- The shot of Sideways riding away after the battle is a recycled shot from Gale. Corrected in the Japanese dub.
- The color of Thrust's jet blasts alternate between orange and blue. Micron Legend corrects this and has them orange throughout the episode.
- In the shot of the Autobots at the end, Blurr's model is incomplete, Smokescreen's crane hook is miscolored gray, and part of Jetfire's face is miscolored white. The error with Blurr is fixed in Micron Legend.
Continuity errors
- Optimus didn't seem so badly damaged at the end of "Tactician" that he'd require a whole episode in the repair bay.
- At the start of Jet Optimus' combination sequence, Jetfire first throws his gun and then his shield to Optimus to give him a makeshift jetpack, but it's the shield that attaches to Prime's back before the gun.
Trivia
- The kanji 合身 could be pronounced as "goushin".
- "Linkup" first aired in the United States on January 31, 2003.
- Shooting stars on the Moon are impossible because it has no atmosphere for objects to burn up in.
- The beginning of Jetfire and Optimus's combination sequence, which is retained in every appearance of the sequence afterward, is the result of the fact that their combination occurs in midair. The way the shield attaches to Optimus and the gun/thruster attaches to the shield can be replicated with the toys as well.
- Jetfire says that he is unwilling to shot the Decepticons' flight capable Mini-Cons, and does not shoot them. But did he not shoot the Air Military Mini-Cons down in the previous episode?
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Der Powerlink" ("The Powerlink")
- Original airdate: This episode was never shown on TV, but was dubbed in 2003. The dub premiered in 2009 with the German DVD release of the show.
Hungarian
- Title: "Csatlakozás" ("Joining")
Polish
- Title: "Połączenie" ("Link")
French
- Title: "Le remplaçant" ("The Substitute")
Korean
- Title: "스나이퍼 vs 제트파이어" ("Sniper vs Jetfire")
Home video releases
All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Micron Legend — Volume 7 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:09 (Warner Music Video)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part One (Rhino Entertainment)
2008 — Transformers: Armada — Volume One (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
