Sacrifice
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| "Sacrifice" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-33 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | April 12, 2003 (English) 22 August 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Akira Okeya | |||||
| Director | Shigeki Hatayama | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
Megatron sends Starscream on a suicide mission and an Autobot falls in battle.
Synopsis
On the Moon, Megatron and Thrust discuss the necessary tactics needed for the Decepticons to obtain the Requiem Blaster. Megatron agrees to give up the Star Saber for the time, but only on the condition that Thrust's plan is effective, or else Thrust will pay.
The Autobots hide in the jungle due to an anonymous tip that the Decepticons are in the area. Smokescreen and Red Alert stay behind at the Autobot base, protecting the Space Team Mini-Cons, in case the Decepticons attack. Smokescreen tries to make friends with the Mini-Cons, while the kids debate the ethics of using the Mini-Cons in battle. At the same time, the Autobots in the jungle have a similar debate.
Laserbeak detects Starscream in the area. Armed with the Star Saber, Starscream screams and tries to draw out the Autobots with yelling. After Starscream begins to destroy the jungle, Optimus Prime and Jetfire combine to fight back. Spying from a distance, Megatron and his goons wonder where the Requiem Blaster is. Tidal Wave and the Sea Mini-Con Team also fire into the forest to draw out the rest of the Autobots.
The kids and Red Alert find their equipment at the base is malfunctioning, courtesy of Sideways. Sideways also telepathically whispers images of the Requiem Blaster in the Autobot base to Thrust, but the tactician dismisses the message as a hallucination.
In the sky, Starscream strikes at Optimus Prime. With a flash of lightning, it suddenly starts to rain all over the forest. After the two warriors land, Optimus tries to reason with Starscream, but Starscream never listens and attacks the Autobot leader. Yet, not a single slash connects. Eventually, the Star Saber deactivates (possibly damaged from the rain), so Starscream calls for help from the other Decepticons. But to his dismay, Starscream finds all the other Decepticons have abandoned him, leaving Starscream on his own against the six Autobots. Before the six can beat down on the lone Decepticon, Laserbeak brings a message to the team that the Decepticons have invaded the base. The Autobots teleport home, leaving Starscream to cry in the rain.
The Autobots find their base trashed, with the kids in hiding. With help from Sideways, the Decepticons were able to invade the base and bypass the security systems that stopped them before. In another section of the base, Smokescreen tries to protect the Mini-Cons. Megatron blows into the room and tears past Smokescreen, claiming the three Mini-Cons and combining them into the Requiem Blaster. Smokescreen refuses to stay down and takes on Megatron by himself, but Megatron fires his blaster right at Smokescreen.
A torrent of energy pours from the blaster, shoving Smokescreen right through one of the walls, his scream stunning the Autobots and humans. Smokescreen rises again with a vast hole through his torso and his pieces in lousy shape even after heavy abuse. The Autobot approaches Megatron while the air around him still ripples in the heat of the last blast. The determination of the melting Autobot scares the Decepticons into retreating with their prize.
In Optimus's arms, Smokescreen deactivates. The Autobots salute their fallen comrade, and Optimus screams in sadness.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons | Misc |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Starscream: "Here I come, Autobots! You're all mine! So come out from your hiding places, you cowards, and face the most powerful Decepticon in the universe!"
Jetfire: "Boy, sure doesn't have a self-image problem, does he?"
- —Jetfire calling the kettle black.
Demolishor: "I'm not talking to you, Eraserhead, I'm talking to Megatron. So butt out, will ya?"
- —Not the last time someone will mock Thrust's head.
Sideways: "There shall never be peace in this universe, there must always be war."
- —A glimpse of Sideways's true motives.
Notes
Differences with Legends of the Microns
- The opening dialogue between Megatron and Thrust is largely unchanged but has a few differences. In Legends of the Microns, Megatron asks if Thrust is requesting to take charge of the plan, and Thrust answers yes. Megatron says he pities "that poor fool" (presumably Starscream) before entrusting Thrust to lead the operation, which Thrust swears to make successful by putting his life on the line. In Armada, Thrust plans to draw out the Autobots, so the Decepticons should prepare. Megatron wants to give the Autobots "a warm Decepticon welcome" and threatens Thrust with serious consequences should he fail.
- In the first half of Rad's opening narration for Armada, he claims the Autobots were "mysteriously informed" about the Decepticons being in the jungle but were unknowingly walking into a trap. In the Japanese dub, he says the Decepticons issued the Autobots a challenge in a jungle location. It ends mid-sentence without mentioning the trick as the Autobots' dialogue begins.
- In Armada, Jetfire has a bad feeling, but Scavenger couldn't care less and tell him to focus. In Legends of the Microns, Jetfire asks what kind of "party locale" the Decepticons invited them to, and Scavenger says they need to be ready to counter the 'Cons as the Autobots can't predict their movements. After Hot Shot and Blurr speak, Jetfire complains about the humidity in Armada but asks if the invitation mentioned the party's starting time in the Japanese dub. Then Optimus says it only said the place and date, and Jetfire curses how it's annoying in Legends of the Microns. In Armada, Optimus lectures Jetfire on how "patience is a virtue," and the latter expresses casual indifference.
- In the second half of Rad's narration, he says Optimus would have perished, and the Decepticons would've won and conquered the universe if the Requiem Blaster hadn't arrived during the previous fight. In Legends of the Microns, Rad says that the Autobots underestimated how the combat would escalate during the last battle, and the Requiem Blaster's arrival saved them.
- Smokescreen says Optimus called him the best one for the job to look after the Mini-Cons. Instead of explaining things to the Requiem Blaster Mini-Cons in "plain English", Smokescreen says he still can't understand what they say.
- In Armada, Rad tells Carlos that the Mini-Cons don't want to fight, and Carlos says they have to. Rad and Carlos aren't arguing in the Japanese dub as Rad doesn't speak to Carlos here. Then, in Armada, Alexis says they're missing the point of what Optimus is doing. In Legends of the Microns, she says the Mini-Cons' reluctance to fight is why Optimus is letting the Decepticons think the Autobots took the Requiem Blaster with them. Then, in the Japanese dub, Jetfire says the 'Cons won't dare attack directly if they believe the Autobots will use it even if they don't use the weapon, and it's what Optimus plans.
- Scavenger tells Hot Shot to quit yapping about not bringing the Requiem Blaster and says that Optimus knows what he's doing in Armada. In Legends of the Microns, Scavenger says the Decepticons can't "grasp the concept of someone not using a powerful weapon," and that by leaving the Mini-Cons with Smokescreen, the Autobots can still follow their ideals while battling the Decepticons.
- As Starscream and Jet Optimus discuss war's meaning in the rain before dueling again, there is a wide shot that's static in Armada, but Legends of the Microns makes it a focus-shifting pan over from a praying mantis eating a snail added to the foreground. Curiously, Armada does include the follow-up shot of the goo-dripping shell falling.
- Smokescreen's death scene is slightly different in Legends of the Microns. The background is colored deep red and white in the shot where the Requiem Blaster's beam pierces him; the shot of everyone's reactions is colored deep red, and Smokescreen is silent as he goes through the wall. When the fatally wounded Smokescreen tries to walk, he glows with orange energy, which fades away when Convoy takes him in his arms.
- The shot of Optimus saying Smokescreen's name pans out in Armada, but it's a still image in Legends of the Microns. After standing, Smokescreen says Megatron will never have the Mini-Cons as long as he lives. The Decepticons have more appalled reactions to him.
- Armada extends Rad's ending narration and dramatizes it by having Rad say it's the first time he saw Optimus so emotional. He realized the Autobots could feel pain, that the fight was personal for Optimus, and Prime wanted revenge at any cost. Legends of the Microns keeps it short and frank but makes it more moving as Rad says it was the first time the kids heard Optimus intensely cry out of grief and the first time they saw what happens in combat. The episode's last few seconds where Optimus holds Smokescreen's body in the pillar of light are silent.
Animation and technical errors
- In the opening scene in the Japanese dub, Megatron has a line during his first close-up, but his mouth doesn't move. Armada changed it to have Thrust speak at that point; however, when Megatron talks after him, Megatron's mouth still doesn't move, although it's mostly out of frame. Their dialogue here might be internal, but it isn't clarified.
- At one point, Scavenger's hands are mismatched. His right hand has square-shaped fingertips, while his left hand has pointy triangular fingertips. Fortunately, only one of the square-shaped fingers is visible due to Scavenger's arms' position, so the error is excusable.
- Jetfire's mouthplate is colored white in one shot.
- After Megatron blasts Smokescreen, Cyclonus has three extra windows on his chest. He still has the extra windows in the shot of the Decepticons reacting to the wounded Smokescreen.
- Just before the Decepticons teleport out of the Autobot base, Smokescreen's antenna/horn is colored blue instead of orange. In the scenes of Smokescreen dying afterward, his antenna/horn is missing.
Continuity notes
- Starscream being used as a distraction and abandoned by the Decepticons is the last straw for him.
- The Sea Mini-Con Team debuts this episode. They appear to have been captured by the Decepticons off-screen at some point.
- Gadgets and powers:
- Megatron Powerlinx with the Requiem Blaster for the first time.
Continuity errors
- Why does Rad introduce himself in the opening narration? We know his voice by now. He doesn't do this in the Japanese dub. He also says the Autobots learned the Mini-Cons didn't want to be used as weapons, but they've already known this for quite some time. In Legends of the Microns, Rad says they understood the Mini-Cons' reluctance to be weaponized.
- The Autobots should stop frequently talking aloud about how they left the Requiem Blaster behind if they don't want the Decepticons to know they didn't bring it with them, especially Hot Shot.
- The Autobots have somehow forgotten they also possess the Skyboom Shield.
- In Armada, Tidal Wave is referred to by his Japanese name, Shockwave, throughout this episode.
- Smokescreen has seemingly forgotten that the Decepticons already invaded the base once.
- Why is Carlos arguing with Rad again that the reluctant Mini-Cons have to fight after coming to understand otherwise like everyone else? Legends of the Microns fixes this mistake by having Carlos say that not wanting to fight is what the Mini-Cons said.
Trivia
- The kanji 犠牲 would be gisei, while suteishi is used for 捨て石, 捨石, 棄て石, or 棄石.
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Smokescreens Ende" ("Smokescreens End")
- Original airdate: This episode was never shown on TV but dubbed in 2003. The dub premiered in 2009 with the German DVD release of the show.
Hungarian
- Title: "Áldozat" ("Sacrifice")
Korean
- Title: "값진 희생" ("Precious Sacrifice")
Portuguese
- Title: "Sacrifício" ("Sacrifice")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Legends of the Microns — Volume 9 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
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)
