What Dwells Within
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| "What Dwells Within" | ||||||
| Season | 1 | |||||
| No. in season | 20 | |||||
| Production company | Entertainment One Nickelodeon | |||||
| Airdate | July 28, 2023 | |||||
| Writer | Mae Catt | |||||
| Director | Sebastian Montes, Alex Kwan | |||||
| Animation studio | Icon Creative Studio | |||||
 Watch this episode on Paramount+
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When the Maltos are trapped underground with a dangerous creature, they must team up with Starscream and the Seekers to escape.
Synopsis
Featured characters
(Characters in italic text appear only in dream sequences.)
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Terrans | Others |
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Quotes
"Yeah, you should go back to following Megatron. He wouldn't leave anyone behind like that."
"Oh naïve child. Is locking Decepticons in prison while he walks free not "leaving us behind"? You don't know the real Megatron, the ruthless tyrant who ruled over us with fear and intimidation."
- —Twitch gets an alternate view of Megatron via Starscream.
"I know you have a complicated history with Starscream. Just promise me you'll return him without excessive force."
- —Optimus asks Megatron not to fall back into old habits.
"You have to, or else I—"
"Is this how Megatron treated you?!"
"You believe me?"
- —Starscream finds a sympathetic ear in Hashtag.
"I won't let you put me back in a cage!"
"What if you could go somewhere safe?"
"Nowhere is safe if it's with you."
- —Starscream stands up to Megatron one last time before leaving.
Notes
Continuity notes
- While not explicitly stated, the Decepticons' getaway seems to have been the result of Mandroid knocking out G.H.O.S.T.'s systems in the previous episode.
- Of the initial Decepticon escapees; Starscream and Soundwave were last seen in "Hashtag: Oops", Skywarp in "Age of Evolution, Part 2", Nova Storm in "Home, Part 1", and Swindle in the previous episode "Disarmed".
- Swindle refers to an "original plan" for the Decepticons' escape that they were waiting to execute. Presumably, this refers back to what Soundwave and Ravage have had cooking since the events of "Decoy," which were all a ploy by Soundwave to get himself and his kitty companion inside the prison. Oddly, Ravage has been unaccounted for since he escaped their cell at the end of that episode, and the sub-plot is not paid off at any point during the first season.
- The mysterious cave the Maltos were looking for at the start of the episode was last seen in "Friends and Family".
- Hashtag briefly flashes back to, and recalls to Starscream, her time under Mandroid's control in "Home, Part 2".
- Upon encountering the Maltos, Skywarp and Nova Storm recall their last encounter with them in "Age of Evolution, Part 1".
- When attacking, the Dweller seems to primarily target the Seekers and Megatron. Given Bumblebee (ES) stated in Friends and Family
that Twitch and Thrash has almost non-existent Energon levels, it appears to mostly ignore the Terrans to go after those with higher levels to consume.
Transformers references
- The Dweller introduced here is a new incarnation of the creature from the G1 episode "The Dweller in the Depths". Much like the original, it appears to be an ancient monster that feeds off energy from Cybertronians.
- Nova Storm is implied to have the ability to generate sonic booms at will, an ability shared with the original Thundercracker. Ironically, Thundercracker is the only member of the original seeker trio missing from this show so far.
Real-world references
Errors
- When Megatron catches Starscream in the tunnels, he is wearing a Decepticon insignia instead of his G.H.O.S.T. badge in two shots.
Trivia
- We learn in this episode some of the limits of Skywarp's teleportation abilities; she can't teleport through solid objects.
