Swoop (episode)
From MediaWiki
| The name or term "Swoop" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Swoop (disambiguation). |
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 Sadly, Swoop received no royalties for this episode. | ||||||
| "Swoop" (Tsurugi) "Holy Sword: Sword" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-13 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | November 29, 2002 (English) 4 April 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Isao Shizuya | |||||
| Director | Masayuki Motsumoto | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
The Decepticons, intent on completing the Star Saber, invade the Autobot base.
Synopsis
Patrolling the skies, Cyclonus searches for the exact position of the Autobot base, for which the Mini-Con Sonar was able to determine the general location. Demolishor is surprised that Megatron can understand the Mini-Cons' language. Cyclonus finds the base, and Megatron, having gained another advantage, has a hearty laugh.
Within the Autobot base, Alexis, Carlos and Rad start to give Billy and Fred the grand tour. But before the two can be shown around, an alarm goes off, and Alexis, Carlos, and Rad rush to the control room, abandoning their friends. Billy has a brilliant idea for himself and Fred to explore. Meanwhile, Optimus notes that a warp gate has opened within the base.
Megatron and the Decepticons, along with Sonar, arrive in the Autobot base and are soon caught on security cameras. Red Alert activates some defense devices built into the base by Hot Shot. Billy, hopelessly lost as Fred predicted they would be, concedes that his navigational skills have failed him. The Decepticons walk by, not noticing the humans, and come under attack from the defense lasers, unwittingly putting the two humans into danger. Optimus characteristically orders a ceasefire, and Megatron assumes it must be a system malfunction and presses forward.
Red Alert determines that the Decepticons are tracking the Mini-Con storage panels containing the other two Star Saber Mini-Cons, and Hot Shot eagerly rushes to confront them. Optimus takes the panels elsewhere, drawing the Decepticons away from the control room. Alexis then uses the room's computer to track Billy and Fred's movements.
Hot Shot, on his own, attacks the Decepticons, but Megatron uses his antlers to grab Hot Shot's head, suspend the Autobot in the air, and then toss him aside. The other Autobots arrive, and Smokescreen activates a screen—of smoke!—to allow them to fall back into a separate chamber. By the time the Decepticons blast through the door, they only see Hot Shot drive away.
The Autobots use the chase to isolate each member of the Decepticons from the rest. Smokescreen is able to lasso Demolishor. Red Alert baits Starscream into a hall of mirrors, his reflected taunts leading the seeker into a trap pit.
The three friendly human kids find their two jerky peers, and Cyclonus finds all five of them. The Decepticon intends to capture and ransom them for the Mini-Cons, but they use the Autobots' warp gate to teleport Cyclonus to someplace far away.
Megatron, the only Decepticon left, is double-teamed by Optimus and Hot Shot, but the skirmish leads to Megatron holding his cannon right up to Hot Shot's face. Sonar awakens his brethren, and Megatron seizes the Star Saber. But just as he holds his new weapon in the air, Optimus blasts it out of Megatron's hands, directly into Hot Shot's.
Megatron links with Leader-1 and offers Hot Shot one last chance to reconsider his side, which Hot Shot refuses. Megatron opens fire. The torrent of energy blasts blows back Hot Shot, but the coaching of his human friends gives him the inspiration he needs to use the Star Saber to resist Megatron's gunfire. After Hot Shot gets close enough to slice off one of Megatron's antlers, the Decepticon leader orders an immediate withdrawal.
Optimus lets Hot Shot keep possession of the Star Saber, and the children celebrate this victory. On the moon, Megatron wishes for revenge so hard it hurts.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Quotes
"Maybe they ran out of ammo."
"Lasers don't run out of ammo!"
- —Cyclonus and Starscream trade ideas on why the automatic defenses have stopped shooting.
"Man, that laugh of yours is really annoying."
- —Hot Shot to Megatron.
"Try and download THIS!"
- —Hot Shot risks attacking Megatron with a bad computer pun.
Billy: "Cyclo-butt!"
Fred: "That's Cyclonapus!"
Cyclonus: "It's Cyclonus!"
Billy: "...Thanks for clearing that up, mister."
Fred: "You have a nice day!"
- —Billy, Fred, and Cyclonus in a rare purposeful Armada name mix-up
"Time for a SYSTEM CRASH!"
- —Lame computer pun #2 from Hot Shot as he tackles Megatron.
Megatron: "Yes, this is more like it, I'm going to pixelate every one of you Autobots."
Optimus: "He's out of control."
Megatron: "Now you will do as I say, hand over all your Mini-Cons to me, or I'll have no choice but to re-format your friend's memory bank."
Hot Shot: "You... won't get anything from me!"
Megatron: "Then I'll have to execute your program."
- —Megatron gets computer-pun vengeance on Optimus Prime and Hot Shot.
"For the last time: Access denied."
- —Hot Shot tries something different for rejecting Megatron's offer of allegiance: a computer pun!
Notes
Differences with Micron Legend
- In the opening scene in Armada, Cyclonus and Demolishor generally moan about the Autobot base being hard to find; in Micron Legend, Cyclonus complains about Blackout's search capabilities, and Demolishor defends his Mini-Con partner.
- Instead of claiming that Sonar is detecting the Autobots, Megatron says that Sonar detects the dormant Runway and Jetstorm. Rather than asking Demolishor if he can understand the Mini-Con language as well, Megatron says, "You idiot! Can you even sense the atmosphere in here?" Cutting to Starscream, he says Demolishor is "too dense to get it."
- Starscream receives the warp coordinates from Cyclonus, instead of those for the Autobot base. Then, in Armada, after finding the Autobot base, Megatron stops laughing before the scene cuts away to the shot of the Moon and Earth; in Micron Legend, his laugh is heard during both scenes just before the title card, and it sounds louder and more sinister.
- In Armada, Fred worryingly tells Carlos he's not a fan of surprises but Micron Legend has him ask Carlos if the more surprising part of the Autobot base is coming up in an excited tone. Alexis also says Carlos is now acting like Billy and Fred's "senpai."
- Instead of Billy deciding he and Fred should explore the base on their own, he says they should look for the others. Then Fred makes a point of their troubles worsening each time he listens to Billy.
- Arriving in the Autobot base, Cyclonus gleefully says he's going to trash the place. After Megatron tells him to focus on the mission, Cyclonus says, "You're no fun at all."
- Hot Shot explains that Smokescreen and Red Alert installed the Autobot base's new internal defenses. In Armada, he claims to have invented and installed it himself.
- Instead of Billy not knowing where they are in the base, he says he forgot where the exit is. When Billy and Fred see the Decepticons in the base, Billy mistakenly calls Megatron "Mega-Shield," before Fred says, "No, you mean Megatrog!". In Armada, Billy says, "Megafrog," and it's the only one used.
- In Armada, Megatron asks Sonar to locate the other Mini-Cons when the scene focuses on Billy and Fred, and the scene of Sonar pointing the way is silent. In Micron Legend, as Sonar points ahead, Megatron says, "I see, so it's the way, then?" as internal monologue.
- When the defense systems cease-fire, Megatron rationalizes it as a systems malfunction in Armada. In Micron Legend, he sort of just accepts it.
- Hot Shot says the Decepticons know where they are and want a fight in Armada but asks why they're coming towards the Command Center in Micron Legend.
- In Micron Legend, Hot Shot storms off determined to take Sonar from the Decepticons. In Armada, he seeks to punish them for intruding into the base.
- Optimus doesn't tell the kids to stay in the Control Room until he turns to look at them. In Armada, Optimus says the line immediately. Then there's an awkward silence before he turns and continues.
- Cyclonus doesn't crack a joke about the Mini-Cons (or Autobots?) getting scared and running but talks about Sonar detecting the other Star Saber Mini-Cons and laughs. This makes more sense in Micron Legend as Hot Shot mocks Cyclonus's laughter and says that "tasteless laughing" is forbidden in the base. Armada has Hot Shot comment on Cyclonus's laugh being annoying even though the latter barely laughed a moment ago. Then the Autobot tells the Decepticons to leave since they take trespassers very seriously there.
- Megatron acknowledges Hot Shot, who then says that "persistent fools" also aren't allowed in the base, and demands Megatron to hand over Sonar. Then Megatron calls Hot Shot a fool and extends his horns.
- After Cyclonus fails to transform in the corridor, Starscream says, "Looks like sensing the atmosphere is too much for you as well," harkening back to what Megatron said to Demolishor on the Moon.
- When they split up, Demolishor and Starscream call out for Megatron, and the only inner monologue heard is Starscream's as he thinks to himself that finding the Mini-Cons should take priority over Megatron, and Demolishor is being "overly loyal." In Armada, after Starscream tells Demolishor to try blasting the door again, they both have internal dialogue: Starscream thinks about taking the Mini-Cons for himself. At the same time, Demolishor complains to himself about having to do all the work.
- At the end of the scene where Red Alert traps Starscream, Red's line isn't about the Mini-Con panel being a fake; instead, he tells Starscream to sit quietly.
- Micron Legend has Fred and Billy wondering if the Autobots or other kids will return for them instead of the Decepticons. They frantically apologize before Rad, Carlos, and Alexis reveal themselves. Depending on the dub, the dialogue that follows differs: In Armada, Billy tells the others never to leave him and Fred again abruptly. Then Carlos tells Billy and Fred that hanging out with him, Rad, and Alexis will bring many surprises. When Rad says they should leave, Carlos makes the classic "trouble just around the corner" joke just before Cyclonus shows up. Micron Legend has Billy ask the others why they didn't rescue them sooner, and Carlos answers that they had to stop the Decepticons from finding the Mini-Cons they came for. When Cyclonus finds the kids, he muses about finding something new to play with. The comical nature of the scene is increased with the background music being louder.
- After Cyclonus sets the record straight with Billy and Fred about his name, Fred says, "Yes, Sandstorm-sama!" and Billy says, "Forget about that! Run for it!" After Rad tells the other kids to hide, he has an extra line where he says he has an idea of getting rid of Cyclonus. Also, Cyclonus claiming that his sensors can detect the children's body heat isn't in Micron Legend.
- Optimus tells Megatron outright that he fell into a trap, Megatron realizes that Hot Shot played him, and Hot Shot says Megatron didn't catch on quickly enough. As he's being electrocuted, Megatron says, "Don't underestimate me... I'll show you just why I'm Megatron-sama, the Emperor of Destruction!" Then, instead of Megatron's computer pun about "pixelating" the Autobots (quoted above), he says, "A worthless trick like this can't even be called a trap!"
- With Hot Shot at his mercy, Megatron quips about the trap helping stretch his shoulders. When Optimus approaches, Megatron warns him to stay back unless he wants something to happen to Hot Shot.
- In Armada, as the Star Saber is formed, Megatron reacts with a gleeful "That's it!". In Micron Legend, he reacts with a surprised "What!?" instead, as if not knowing the three Mini-Cons would combine into a sword. After the Star Saber is formed, Megatron says, "So this is the legendary power?!", instead of smugly claiming ownership of the blade. The Japanese dub also removes the transformation sound effect from the sequence.
- After Hot Shot catches the Star Saber, Megatron demands him to return it, rambling about being the most powerful Transformer worthy of it, with Optimus yelling for Hot Shot to get Megatron in Armada. In Micron Legend, Megatron demands "his sword" back and calls Leader-1 to combine for his Full Blast Mode, following with Optimus yelling at Hot Shot to look out, making sense unlike the English dub since the next scene has Optimus getting injured from saving Hot Shot.
- Armada has Megatron give Hot Shot a proposal of allowing him to join the Decepticons by returning the Star Saber with the latter denying the offer and trying to attack, only to be pushed back, then thinking to himself about having to resist Megatron's power. In Micron Legend, Megatron mocks the Autobot for being weak and unable to protect Optimus, which provokes Hot Shot to attack, and he silently grunts to himself after falling back.
- A dramatic echo effect is added to the end of Megatron's line before Hot Shot charges at him. Then it takes a couple of seconds for Hot Shot to connect with the Star Saber, instead of a split-second as he does in Armada.
- While Hot Shot uses the Star Saber to block his attack, Micron Legend has Megatron reveling the sword's power and desiring it to be his more than ever; Armada has him taken aback by the Autobot's ability to control the weapon.
- After Hot Shot slices Megatron, the Decepticon leader reacts in shock to his horn being severed, and says that he'll remember this before retreating.
- Instead of referring to Megatron as "Megatroy" before finally being corrected by Carlos, Fred once again calls the Decepticon leader "Megatrog."
- Alexis delivers the ending narration instead of Rad.
- In the last scene, Megatron's damaged horn is shown being restored. Megatron swearing revenge for his humiliation is slightly shortened so that it ends as the scene cuts to the close-up of his hand. In Armada, his scream stays at a level tone and ends before the dissolve to the ending shot of the Moon. In Micron Legend, Megatron's scream starts at one level but intensifies as the shot dissolves and is heard over the last shot.
Animation and technical errors
- While searching for the Autobot base in the opening scene, Cyclonus's canopy is missing.
- Megatron's throne is off-model.
- During the close-up of Sonar sitting upon Megatron's arm, Megatron's entire arm is miscolored red. It's fixed and recolored gray in Micron Legend.
- After finding the Autobot base, the extreme close-up of Megatron's face is reused footage from when he appears on Earth in "First Encounter" except the colors aren't updated to match his new appearance.
- When Runway and Jetstorm react to Sonar's proximity by projecting the Star Saber's image, Carlos reacts to it by saying, "Hey! The Autobots shut off the force field! Follow me, you guys!" This is presumably an error, as there was no force field present. In the Japanese dub, the kids don't react to the Star Saber's holographic projection, and Carlos continues Billy and Fred's tour of the base.
- After Megatron warps into the Autobot base and instructs Sonar to find his partners, one of Sonar's chest panels is miscolored yellow.
- During the scene where Megatron asks Sonar where the other Star Saber Mini-Cons are, he uses the singular pronoun "it" instead of the proper plural pronoun "them." This happens again when Megatron realizes that Optimus has the Mini-Cons.
- As the base's defense system fires at the Decepticons, Billy and Fred aren't seen but suddenly appear in the bottom-right corner on the monitor in the next shot.
- Before running off to find the Decepticons, Hot Shot says, "You watch, I'll show them what it means to break into our face." No doubt, this is meant to be "base."
- During Megatron's close-up after he shouts, "Horn attack mode!", the horns are toggled back and forth to create the illusion of them extending. However, this is done clumsily as the tips of the horns are repeatedly poking in and out of the edge of the screen, so it looks like Megatron is using them to rub his cheeks.
- After Megatron drops Hot Shot after grabbing him with his horns, the horns aren't animated returning to normal size even though they have the sound effect. Micron Legend actually shows the horns shrinking down.
- After Red Alert says, "Now, Smokescreen" (signaling Smokescreen to release the smokescreen), Smokescreen is missing his antenna/horn. It proceeds to vanish and reappear in the scenes after as well.
- After Megatron blasts the door, Cyclonus's chest has four windows on it instead of two.
- After failing to transform in the corridor, Cyclonus is colored like Demolishor. This is corrected in Micron Legend.
- After Starscream, Demolishor, and Cyclonus are separated from Megatron, the Decepticon insignias on Starscream's wings are upside down.
- Cyclonus says, "I'll cut them off on the other side," but it's Starscream who, after suggesting they blast their way through, proceeds to do so while Cyclonus simply vanishes from Demolishor's side. Micron Legend fixes this with Starscream suggesting they find another route, and then Cyclonus says, "I'll go this way, you go that way," with Cyclonus fully animated exiting the shot.
- Before attempting to blast open the door that separated them from Megatron, Demolishor says to stand back although Starscream and Cyclonus already left a moment ago. As explained above, this error doesn't happen in the Japenese dub.
- When Smokescreen sneaks up behind Demolishor, it looks as if Demolishor faces a long corridor despite being in front of a door a moment ago.
- In the mirror room, it looks like Red Alert is in the room with Starscream, and Starscream's mouth keeps moving after saying his line. Starscream strangely also doesn't cast a reflection on any of the glass even after shooting it to pieces. Micron Legend not only fixes these mistakes but also makes the scene more elaborate as the room is reminiscent of an infinity mirror room, with Starscream facing multiple reflections of himself. Also, when Starscream shoots the glass, he faces the screen in Armada but in Micron Legend, he isn't visible as him shooting the glass happens from his POV.
- It looks as though Starscream's mouth not moving when he yells at Red Alert upon being trapped looks like an animation mistake. This is because his line is spoken too early. The Japanese version has Starscream say his line as he looks up at Red Alert.
- During the shot of Optimus and Hot Shot watching Megatron get electrocuted, the Autobots are obscured while Megatron's legs on either side of the frame are in focus. The Japanese dub corrects this by reversing the effect so that Megatron's legs in the foreground are blurred, and Optimus and Hot Shot are in focus.
- After being blasted by Megatron and Leader-1, Hot Shot's visor is briefly miscolored yellow.
- There are multiple instances where Megatron's Decepticon symbols are missing, whether it is the one on his chest, the two on his shoulders, or all three.
- Sonar disappears from Megatron's shoulder and reappears on it periodically.
- In Megatron's scene of shooting up the base, he looks superimposed since the poles on either side of him are so close together that his hands aren't clasped around them. Another mistake that Micron Legend fixes.
- When Megatron commands Sonar to awaken his partners, Megatron's mouth doesn't move.
- In the shot of Megatron holding the Star Saber, the sword is too bright to be seen clearly, and it blends into the background starburst. Micron Legend lowers the sword's brightness so that its colored blue instead of white, and its outline can be made out.
- In the scene of Rad telling Hot Shot to powerlinx with the Star Saber, his eyes are drawn looking at the upper right corner of the screen while the other kids look straight towards the camera, and look like low-quality static models compared to Rad. They also don't blink and look like lifeless dolls. The Japanese version is fixed to have the other kids looking in the same direction as Rad. However, the other kids' bodies are still positioned towards the screen instead of to the right like Rad's.
- After Rad speaks to Hot Shot, Leader-1 is miscolored purple to match Megatron. In Micron Legend, just before Hot Shot charges at Megatron, Leader-1's coloration is corrected.
- After his horn is sliced off, Megatron doesn't have the shadow around his eyes, though they return before he retreats.
- As he escapes from the pit just before the Decepticons retreat, the raised spots on Starscream arms are miscolored purple. In Micron Legend, he says that he finally managed to climb out, but his mouth doesn't move.
- After the Decepticons retreat, Hot Shot's mouth doesn't move when he says using the Star Saber was intense; maybe this was meant to be internal dialogue. This part is silent in Micron Legend.
- In his final shot, Megatron's treads look perfectly smooth.
Continuity errors
- Cyclonus plans to capture the humans and trade them for the Mini-Cons, even though he already tried that four episodes ago! Micron Legend fixes this by having Cyclonus chase the kids, thinking they'll lead him straight to Hot Shot.
Transformers references
- In Micron Legend, near the end, Megatron refers to himself as the Emperor of Destruction, a classic nod to the infamous title from Transformers lore.
- When he resumes firing at Hot Shot, it's another time Megatron tells a character to "Go to the Pit!" in Micron Legend.
Real-world references
- Starscream saying, "It a trap!" might be a blatant reference to the famous quote said by Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Trivia
- The kanji 聖剣 would be pronounced as "seiken," while "tsurugi" is used for the kanji 剣.
- Taking a wild stab in the dark, this episode was probably meant to be named "Sword" instead of "Swoop," as the events of this episode have pretty much nothing to do with "swooping" and just about everything to do with a sword. The episode's Japanese title supports this. Guess someone goofed and wrote the wrong five-letter "Swo--" word. Oops.
- This is the first episode in which the opening is narrated by Jim Conrad instead of Rad.
- The establishing shot of the Autobot base is the same establishing shot seen in episode 5, "Soldier."
- Did Billy and Fred really not realize the initial sirens going off inside the Autobot base meant danger? They can't be THAT clueless.
- They also have weird difficulties remembering the names of the Decepticons, calling Megatron "Megafrog" (I mean, how would Fred associate Megs with frogs?) and later ”Megatroy,” and Cyclonus ”Cyclonopus," who quickly gets frustrated.
- Megatron is shown being able to extend his horns, strong enough to grab and throw around other Transformers.
- In Armada, Hot Shot is responsible for the internal defense systems of the Autobot base, which explains a lot.
- Smokescreen activates... a SMOKESCREEN! As his Japanese name is "Grap," this probably wasn't an intentional bit.
- Starscream gets caught in Red Alert's trap kind of like another Starscream another time.
- Speaking of Cyclonus, this episode shows a rare moment of Crumplezone's cockpit mode combination with Cyclonus. At the same time, it's a moment of toy-inaccuracy as Blackout is somehow attached to Cyclonus's undercarriage.
- The Decepticons apparently use paper.
- Apparently, Cyclonus's sensors can detect human body heat.
- At the end, in Micron Legend, Billy refers to Megatron as a "fork-head." Given that Megatron's head (and to some extent, his shoulders) looks like a tuning fork with those horns, Billy's not wrong.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Das Schwert der Mini-Cons" ("The Sword of the Mini-Cons")
- 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: "Rajtaütés" ("Strike")
Polish
- Title: "Uderzenie" ("Strike")
French
- Title: "Une visite mouvementée" ("An Eventful Visit")
Korean
- Title: "승리는 우리의 것" ("Victory is Ours")
Home video releases
All releases listed are in English audio unless otherwise noted.
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Micron Legend — Volume 4 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Best Of The Decepticons (Rhino Entertainment)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part One (Rhino Entertainment)
2005 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:04 (Universal)
2008 — Transformers: Armada — Volume One (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
