Runaway
| ||||||
| ||||||
| "Runaway" (Kakurega) "Run Away: Refuge" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-30 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | March 22, 2003 (English) 1 August 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Isao Shizuya | |||||
| Director | Mihiro Yamaguchi | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
The kids try to help the Space Mini-Con Team escape from the Decepticons and the Autobots by running away.
Synopsis
On the Moon, Tidal Wave and Megatron are undergoing repairs and a tune-up following their defeat by the Requiem Blaster. Thrust attempts to allay Megatron's concerns about the Autobots.
Meanwhile, the Autobots have a heated debate about the Space Mini-Con Team. Optimus Prime is hesitant to use them in battle, given their distinct reluctance to fight, while the other Autobots (particularly Jetfire and Hot Shot) argue that it'd be better to use their power to destroy the Decepticons in one fell swoop. However, before Optimus can decide, the Autobots realize the Mini-Cons in question are missing, and so are the kids.
Rad, Carlos, Alexis, Billy and Fred are conspiring to sneak the Space Mini-Con Team away, where neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons can find them. Bundling the Mini-Cons up in clothes, they buy bus tickets for Central City and make their getaway (narrowly avoiding detection by an alert canine named Sally) as the Autobots scour the city, intent on capturing the runaways.
However, Thrust has been monitoring human surveillance satellites above the Autobot base and is puzzled about why the humans are leading the Mini-Cons away. He becomes even more perplexed when realizing Optimus is tailing the bus at a distance.
Optimus is thrown off the trail when the runaways disembark in a cornfield and trek to a dilapidated farmhouse. The kids help the Mini-Cons set up a series of alarms, early warnings, and traps in case the Decepticons come looking for them—as well as engaging in an FCC-mandated level of tomfoolery.
These preparations prove surprisingly useful as Thrust appears on the farm, declaring his intention to seize the Mini-Cons for his own. He is blinded, bruised, roped, tripped, and rolled over in short order until he's steaming mad. While the booby-traps are insufficient to stop the Decepticon, they do buy enough time for Optimus to arrive and drive Thrust off.
As the other Autobots make a belated appearance, Rad delivers an impassioned speech urging the Autobots to see the Mini-Cons as individuals, not tools to be used in their battle with the Decepticons. Optimus agrees, reminding his troops that if they use these Mini-Cons against their will, the Autobots are no better than the Decepticons.
Hot Shot concludes that this means that they will fight with the Mini-Cons as a team, yeah! (Hot Shot is kind of an idiot.)
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"Look! Your guardian star is very bright tonight, sir. I believe it might actually swallow up every other star around it! This must surely be a sign you'll crush the Autobots, conquer the universe and lead the Decepticons back to planet Cybertron!"
- —Thrust, astrologer
"Huh, so humans are good for something after all. That's news to me!"
- —Demolishor
"Dear Mom, I just wanna thank you for all the great foods you've made me over the years. I especially enjoyed your spaghetti and meatballs; the sauce was a haunting blend of herbs and spices—and the things you can do with a pot roast are truly inspirational. Yours truly, your son, Fred."
- —Fred's letter home
"Come on, with a little TLC, this place will be good as new!"
- —Alexis auditions to become a real estate agent.
Notes
Differences with Legends of the Microns
Animation and technical errors
- The animation noticeably goes back and forth between high and low quality.
- Starscream and Demolishor are noticeably off-model in the first scene at the Decepticon base—their heads are their torsos' size. Also, Starscream's mouth starts moving before he begins speaking. Starscream's dialogue begins as his mouth moves in the Japanese dub.
- When Thrust kneels before Megatron, Megatron's head, chest, and arms are partially miscolored.
- As Thrust tells Megatron his fortune, Megatron's face color matches his helmet, and his eye is badly drawn.
- In the first scene with the Autobots, Longarm appears miscolored as Sparkplug.
- Cyclonus and Demolishor seem to speak in unison when they find Thrust hacking into the satellite. Only Cyclonus says the line in Legends of the Microns.
Continuity notes
- Members of the Street Speed Mini-Con Team, Land Military Mini-Con Team and Destruction Mini-Con Teams appear back in the Decepticons' possession, despite their defection back in "Vow". In the Japanese dub of "Tactician", Knock Out is present in the storage room that housed Inferno and the Air Military Mini-Con Team. As none of the previously mentioned Mini-Cons have appeared with the Autobots since their defection, the Decepticons probably stole them back off-screen. This instance wouldn't be the first time it's happened as Spiral was also captured by the Decepticons off-screen between episodes.
- Thrust has to explain artificial satellites to Cyclonus and Demolishor. This concept is seemingly foreign to Transformers in this univer—wait a minute...
- This episode is the second (and final) time that a Mini-Con dons a human disguise; "Overmatch" did this first.
- Gadgets and powers:
- Optimus can blow air from his forearm cannons/smokestacks.
Continuity errors
- Wow, Sparkplug was gone for a whole three seconds before reporting that the Space Mini-Con Team was gone. He must've searched the entire base at hyperspeed.
- Why doesn't Red Alert use his siren to get through the traffic?
- How can Hot Shot realize after all this time that the Autobots will defeat the Decepticons by working together with the Mini-Cons? That should've been obvious from the get-go! In Legends of the Microns, he rightly concludes the Autobots should beat the Decepticons without the Requiem Blaster.
Trivia
- The kanji 逃走 would be pronounced as tōsō, while kakurega is used for 隠れ家.
- Why doesn't the bus stop at the railroad crossing? It's federal law in the United States for buses to stop there!
- The train's locomotive is decidedly European-looking, and the apparently-wooden boxcars would be severely dated.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Die Flucht der Mini-Cons" ("The Escape 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: "Menekülés" ("Escape")
Polish
- Title: "Ucieczka" ("Escape")
Korean
- Title: "싸움을 피하는 법" ("How to Avoid the Fight")
Portuguese
- Title: "Fugitivos" ("Runaways")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Legends of the Microns — Volume 8 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:10 (Warner Music Video)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Power of the Mini-Cons (Rhino Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (Rhino Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
2014 — Transformers: Armada — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
