Ambush (episode)
| This article is about the Cybertron episode. For the G.I. Joe-aligned human, see Ambush (G.I. Joe). |
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 SAY MY NAME. | |||||||||
| "Ambush" (Taiketsu! Lori tai Chromia) "Showdown! Lori VS Chromia" | |||||||||
| Production company | TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency | ||||||||
| Airdate | October 29, 2005 (Japanese) September 18, 2006 (English) | ||||||||
| Writer | Gyō Yamatoya | ||||||||
| Director | Atsushi Nakayama | ||||||||
| Animation studio | GONZO | ||||||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity | ||||||||
The Autobots split up to search the lower levels of Gigantion for its Cyber Planet Key, while the Decepticons do the same. Lori and Thunderblast get acquainted.
Synopsis
Deep in the lower levels of Gigantion, the four Autobot teams are making fast progress in their search for the Cyber Planet Key. Snarl, Leobreaker and Jetfire have enjoyed an uneventful journey and soon discover a large chasm that they decide to leap into to continue their mission. Elsewhere, Optimus Prime's team (the Recon Mini-Con Team, Vector Prime and Metroplex) are having only a slightly more eventful time of it, as they find their way barred by Ransack and Crumplezone...only to run straight over them. The two Decepticons bemoan their fate, then encourage themselves to try even harder despite all their past failures... then deflate again as reality sets in. Poor dumb schmucks.
Elsewhere again, the team of Override, Wing Saber and Lori take an elevator to a lower level. Override advises caution entering the new area when they reach the bottom, and Wing Saber glibly notes the perfect getting-ambushed opportunities there. Thunderblast takes this as her cue to enter, backed up by Scourge. Lori, however, immediately begins verbally browbeating Scourge for his cowardly tactics and enduring association with the Decepticons, and Scourge flinches. A lot. Thunderblast eventually gets sick of it and insults the both of them, calling Lori a "mouse." Lori, her temper already frayed, challenges Thunderblast to a fight, and the Autobots take fighting positions.
Back with Jetfire's team, the trio finally lands at the bottom of the pit, where they're attacked by Thundercracker. Jetfire tackles the Decepticon himself, ordering the other two to go ahead without him. They hesitate for a moment but then move to depart, realizing that, after all, "it's only Thundercracker." Furious at this disrespect, Thundercracker throws Jetfire aside and draws a bead on the retreating Autobots. Jetfire recovers quickly and opens fire on the Decepticon, allowing his comrades to escape. Grinning wickedly, Thundercracker announces that it's time to reveal his new "forbidden attack," much to Jetfire's befuddlement.
Battling is the order of the day on all three fronts, as Optimus Prime blasts the interfering Ransack and Crumplezone far off into the distance once again.
Thunderblast distracts Lori with a rather puerile ruse and beats cheeks out of there. Lori's last nerve snapped, she glowers at Wing Saber until he submits to bringing her along to chase Thunderblast down. The pair fly off on Thunderblast's tail, leaving (a somewhat relieved) Scourge to battle Override, though Wing Saber soon realizes that she's undoubtedly leading them into a trap. Lori is adamant, though, and they soon discover where Thunderblast is leading them: a harbor area with a lot of open water.
Elsewhere, Thundercracker is charging up his "Super Electric Lightning Thundercrackin' Punch" with much pomp and grandeur. Jetfire is incredulous when the Decepticon finishes crying the attack's name, and he finds out it's only a punch, but to Thundercracker's credit, his fist connects and knocks Jetfire for six. Jetfire is actually impressed, complimenting Thundercracker on finally landing a legitimately good attack, and Thundercracker grins happily.
While Scourge and Override's battle continues, with plenty of trash talk, Thunderblast launches her attack, shooting missiles at Wing Saber from underwater. Wing Saber has a rare moment of clarity and suggests a retreat, knowing he can't tackle Thunderblast like this, but Lori insists they have to outsmart her. Wing Saber drops Lori off on dry land, and she enters a control console for a ring of eight cranes in the middle of the harbor water. Wing Saber allows himself to get "shot down" and dives underwater in robot mode. Thunderblast follows and corners him and then realizes that Wing Saber just led her into a trap. Lori hits a button on the control panel so hard that it cracks, drops the crane-claws all around Thunderblast, surrounding her, and then a final one right on her head. Thunderblast demands to be released, and Wing Saber obliges, courtesy of pretty much every missile he's packing. The explosion sends Thunderblast flying away uncontrollably, wailing in defiance.
Elsewhere, Jetfire and Thundercracker have beaten each other silly, and both collapse, exhausted. The back-up team of Coby, Landmine, Quickmix and Evac arrive. Coby tends to Jetfire while Quickmix keeps the gibbering Thundercracker quiet by dumping a lot of quick-drying concrete on top of him.
Scourge and Override's fight blasts a hole in the floor of a level above them, and their fight moves into this new room. Scourge hurls his axe, which misses and slams into the wall, right above the doorway through which Lori then appears running. Wing Saber dives in and saves Lori before the falling debris crushes her, and Scourge uses the opportunity to run for an elevator. Lori, quickly over her near-death experience, berates Scourge again, who sheepishly says he's not running away so much as making a strategic withdrawal. The doors close and Override and Lori both express their frustration by hitting the wall. However, Lori discovers she has inadvertently kicked a hidden button in the wall, which causes the room's lights to turn off, and a large device to rise out of the middle of the floor. As the device powers up, the trio realizes they are looking at a planetarium-like hologram device, which begins to project images of Gigantion in ancient times. The video images show a giant dark sphere appearing above the planet, and hundreds of robots emerging from it and filling Gigantion's skies... robots of the same design as Sideways...
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"Ah...I'm feelin' a bit rundown."
"Don't make me laugh! It hurts!"
- —Crumplezone and Ransack after being run over by Metroplex.
"When he sees our real strength and feels our vengeance, he'll regret beating us over and over and over..."
- —Crumplezone
"What could be dangerous? It's dark with only one exit! Looks like a great place to get ambushed!"
- —Wing Saber
"What in the world are you thinking?! Back on Jungle Planet, you were all about honor and rule of law, but now look at you! Skulking around in the shadows with a Decepticon floozy—"
"HEY!"
"—plotting ambushes and, and sneak attacks?! What's the matter with you?! Have you completely lost your honor or what?!"
- —Lori browbeats Scourge (with objection by Thunderblast)
"Little sister, you better check yo'self!"
- —Thunderblast to Lori
"We are chasing her, Wing Saber!"
"Huh?! You're not serious."
"I am serious."
"Uh, but...but Lori...."
"We're. Chas. Ing. Her."
"Yes...ma'am...."
- —Lori has Wing Saber totally whipped.
"Here I go! SUPER 'LECTRIC LIGHTNIN' THUNDERCRACKER PUNCH!"
"All that for a punch?"
- —Jetfire doesn't see the reason behind Thundercracker's build up.
"Man... I'm impressed! Good punch, mate! Fair dinkum! 'Bout time you brought some muscle to the tussle!"
- —Jetfire revises his opinion of the above punch.
"Don't worry about a thing. I aced a B+ in computers class."
"Why not an A?"
"Well...."
"Just don't tell me you crashed the computer."
- —Lori and Wing Saber
"Bring me a 'get well' card..."
- —Thundercracker
"And no more squeaking from the mouse!"
- -Oh no Thunderblast didn't!
Notes
Differences with Galaxy Force
- Galaxy Force includes a "previously on" segment summarizing the events of "City."
- Immediately after the "previously" segment, before the title card appears, Galaxy Force also includes a brief original scene of Override, Wing Saber, and Lori making their way down a corridor, talking about being first to their objective. Removing the "previously" segment, Cybertron also removes this short scene (perhaps unintentionally?).
- Since the English dub lacks Galaxy Force's opening scene, Snarl and Leobreaker speak the first lines in Cybertron. In the Galaxy Force version of the latter scene, Snarl and Leobreaker are silent.
- In Cybertron, after Lori challenges Thunderblast to a battle, Wing Saber and Override sound like they are preparing to fight. In Galaxy Force, they both claim that Lori is scary.
- During the standoff between Lori and Thunderblast, Scourge's internal line "This is bad" is exclusive to Cybertron.
- In Cybertron, Thunderblast's puerile ruse was her claiming Lori had something on her shoe, causing Lori to check if she stepped in something. In Galaxy Force, Thunderblast instead told Lori there was money on the ground, drawing her attention.
- In Cybertron, Thunderblast blows a raspberry and runs off. In Galaxy Force, Thunderblast, while doing that, says, "Akanbe!" before running off. In Japan, Akanbe(あかんべえ Akanbē) is a mocking facial gesture expressed by pulling one's eyelids down and sticking out their tongue.
- In Galaxy Force, Wing Saber doesn't say anything after the second Lori death glare, and he sounds more resigned to Lori's demands before they pursue Thunderblast.
- In Cybertron, at the end of the episode, Lori berates Scourge for retreating. In Galaxy Force, she is angry because she suspects he may have thrown his axe and collapsed the wall with the deliberate intention of killing her.
Continuity errors
- So, did Scourge get his tail-axe back or what?
Real-world references
- As she and Wing Saber jet off after Thunderblast, Lori cries "Hi-yo Saber!", a reference to the western hero The Lone Ranger gave his horse, Silver, to begin running.
- "She can lead an Autobot to water..." Wing Saber says of Thunderblast's plan, with Lori adding, "...but can she make us drink?", paraphrasing that old saying about horses.
- While chasing Wing Saber underwater, Thunderblast starts singing the theme from Jaws.
Trivia
- There's a noticeably vaster amount of facial emoting from the CGI cast in this episode than usual. The series previously limited the height of facial animation to the changing shape of the mouth. This episode features several characters getting "normal" teeth for certain expressions which aren't present in most other sequences, more fluid lip motions, and even eyes that change shape. It's a nice change of pace.
- The scene where Lori is almost crushed by falling debris has one of the few instances of "precise" lip-synching in the series: a close-up of Override's face as she yells "LORI!!!" The shot of her afterward repeating her name in a relieved tone is also synched, but no teeth. A close-up of Thunderblast just before she's crushed also has precise lip-sync, but it's synched to Japanese words, not English. Oh well.
- During his indecision on whether or not to follow Thunderblast, Wing Saber displays the comical, big anime sweat drop on the side of his head, which means that Lori is scary enough to make robots sweat. Also, one can see Lori with a fang sticking out of her mouth when she's mad. O.o
- On that note, Lori is so scary that she makes Wing Saber obey her orders!
- Why is the multi-crane control tower (and all its workstations) the perfect size for Lori to use? Were these designed exclusively for Mini-Cons?
- As Thunderblast runs across the rooftops while luring Wing Saber and Lori along, her breasts actually... jiggle. Seriously, Gonzo, we despair of you.
Home video releases
- DVD
2006 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 11 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)
