The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
{{episodenav|headmbined in "Final Formation," the Headmasters channel the combined energy of the entire Autobot army into Fortress Maximus. Supercharged by his troops, Fortress Maximus uses the Master Sword to redirect the energy beam back into the sattelite, destroying it, much to the shock of the watching Decepticons. Then, with a single slash of his might blade, Fortress Maximus destroys the Zarak Shield and bisects Scorponok's Transtector, which explodes into smithereens.
Time passes. With the victory at the North Pole, the Decepticon forces have finally been broken, and they withdraw from Earth, but they still pose a threat to the other planets in the universe, and it is the duty of the Autobots to pursue them and stop them. As the entirety of the Autobots forces gather to leave Earth for good, Fortress, the Headmasters and Wheelie say goodbye to Daniel, Spike and Carly. The farewell between Daniel and Wheelie is especially tearful, and the two vow to see each other again. Battleship Maximus lifts off, and Daniel cries out his goodbyes, which echo through the air as the Autobots vanish into the setting sun.
Stats
Original airdate: 28th March 1988
Featured Characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Other notes
Animation and/or technical glitches
- When Fortress Maximus lifts the Master Sword after striking, the lowest segment of the blade has has orange and yellow stripes on it that it's never had before. These details actually are on the toy of the sword, but they've not appeared in the cartoon before!
Continuity errors
- Seems there were a few crossed wires regarding the Decepticon attacks last episode. Here, the injured Carly is seem being carried off the Queen World luxury liner - except that she was hurt in a plane crash caused by the energy discharge from the Death Towers, and the Queen World sank as a direct result of a Decepticon attack. Whoops!
- Despite it seeming very much like Sixshot killed them last episode (knocking their heads off, with wires and circuits lying all over the place), Wingspan and Pounce are up and about with no ill effects here.
Transformers references
- The Decepticons all apparently disappeared from Earth back in "Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 1)," but we only ever saw a small number of them in the intervening episodes. This episode reveals that the characters that we have not seen since then, like Scourge, Menasor and Devastator, have been hiding in Lemuria, preparing for Scorponok's plan.
Miscellaneous trivia
- According to Transformers: Generations, as noted above, this episode aired on the 28th of March. This would make it the only The Headmasters episode to air on a day other than the show's normal Friday, being screened on the following Monday, only three days after Part 1.
- After the closing scene of the episode, but before the credits, the episode ends with the theme tune playing alongside a "clean" version of the opening sequence (devoid of on-screen text). The Decepticons do not flicker in this segment, as they have been doing in the actual opening since "Explosion on Mars!! Maximus Is in Danger," and a shot from the conclusion of Fortress Maximus's transformation sequence is added to the end of the segment.
- The eighth and final chapter of the manga version of The Headmasters published in TV Magazine consist of an additional scene that fits into this episode, between the destruction of Scorponok's Transtector, but before the Autobots leave Earth. In this short story, Soundblaster makes a last ditch attack against Chromedome, Spike, Carly, Daniel and Wheelie with Slugfest and Overkill (who did not appear in the Headmasters anime at all), Rodimus Prime returns, having been gone since "Cybertron Is in Grave Danger, Part 2," and Sixshot plans to travel to many different planets, to learn new transformations. Comments made by Rodimus about humans and Transformers working and evolving together, Sixshot's desire to "transform" into a human, and the narratives promise that Earth will not go unguarded all seem to foreshadow the next series, Super-God Masterforce.
- A special prose "epilogue" published in TV Magazine filled in the gap between The Headmasters and Super-God Masterforce, explaining that, after the events of this episode, the conflict shifted to a space-based war between the two sides, involving exchanges between Chaar and Athenia. The advanced technology of planet Master formed the backbone of this conflict, but the destruction of the space bridge back in "Daniel Faces His Biggest Crisis Ever!!" meant that transport to and from the Earth were severely limited, hence the large role played by humans in Masterforce.
