The Elite Guard
| This article is about the Transformers Animated episode. For the Autobot military team featured in this episode, see Cybertron Elite Guard. |
The Cybertron Elite Guard arrives on Earth to retrieve the All Spark and relieve Prime and his crew of their post, but they prove less than adept at blending in with the human world.
Summary
On the extensive highway system of Detroit, the Autobots are aiding in the repair efforts after their titanic battle with the Decepticons. Unfortunately the residents of the city don't seem to understand that the road system was blown to rubble by the battle, and are upset that the Autobots are holding up traffic. Optimus Prime heads over to address their concerns, and they flee in fear. Bulkhead comments that he liked it better when they were heroes, to which Ratchet retorts that they still are. All of them wonder what the heck has happened that Bumblebee isn't there helping them.
There's no reason for them to be jealous though, as the little yellow bot has been pressed into service as Sari's secretary at Sumdac Tower. The little girl realizes that there's a lot of pressure in running a business, and feels sorry for her father's having had to deal with this. Porter C. Powell is less patient, and expresses a fairly cold attitude towards her "wasting" company funds on locating the genius who designs all the company's myriad robotic technologies. Sari is unable to address his concerns though, as an unidentified flying object is spotted in Detroit's skies.
Spotting it, the Autobots speed to the scene, only to be met with some justified resentment by Captain Fanzone. However they are allowed to pass once the ship is revealed to be crewed by Autobots. Sentinel Prime, Jazz, and Ultra Magnus steps out of the ship, while Optimus Pirme and company walk up the gangplank, giving Magnus a salute. The Supreme Commander orders a force field thrown up to quarantine the entire area from organics. Jazz is interested in interacting with the locals, but quickly loses his interest Sentinel Prime warns that they'll spit slime that will melt him down.
Sentinel is assigned to decontaminating the long lost Autobot crew, a task he takes to with relish until he is interrupted by Jazz for overdoing it. Released, the Autobots are informed that the Elite Guard have come to retrieve the AllSpark. Optimus explains that it was dispersed in the battle with the Decepticons, a fact that Sentinel accuses him of lying about, saying there is no evidence of the Decepticons being on the planet. Ratchet says that Optimus is a hero for keeping the AllSpark out of Megatron's hands, while Bulkhead nearly comes to blows with Sentinel after the out of line guardsman says that Optimus is anything but a hero. Ultra Magnus orders the Autobots to calm down, and tells Optimus to take him and and Sentinel to where the AllSpark was dispersed, and that Optimus Prime's crew would remain with Jazz until they return. The two Elite Guardsmen have some very unsubtle alternate mode (Magnus is aa missile carrier and Sentinel is a monster truck with a snow plow) and damage some cars near the ship as they roll out. Optimus tries to instruct them on the finer points of traffic laws, but Sentinel rams him aside without any regards for driver safety. He pays for this by driving off a damaged bridge and crashing into the ground below.
Elsewhere, the Decepticons have holed themselves up in an underground mine with carbon disposits to hide them from the Autobots' sensors. Lugnut wants to go topside and fight, but Megatron has other priorities: the conquest of Cybertron. Megatron says that the reason they lost the Great Wars were due to the AllSpark and the Autobots' space bridge, but Megatron was able to download a partial schematic from the Ark before his defeat. A completed space bridge would allow the Decepticons to teleport into Cybertron and conquer the planet from the inside. The rest of the space bridge's schematics, however, would have to be reverse-engineered by Isaac Sumdac, still the Decepticons' prisoner. Sumdac says that he doesn't know anything about teleportation, but a malfunctioning service drone gets him to shut up. Megatron blasts the drone, and discovers that a piece of the AllSpark is imbedded into its circuitry. This gives Megatron hope that the AllSpark was not entirely destroyed, and could still be salvaged...
Stats
- Written by: Rich Fogel
- Directed by: Matt Youngberg, Irineo Maramba, & Yutaka Kagawa
- Original airdate: April 12, 2008
- Animation company:
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Optimus: This is completely unnecessary, Sentinel!
Sentinel: Can't risk an infestation, "old buddy". Take it like a real bot.
[Jazz shuts down the decontamination system]
Jazz: Cool it, Sentinel. Whatever went down between you and Optimus, you don't need to hassle his crew.
- —Optimus Prime and Jazz are reminded that Sentinel Prime is a jerk.
"Man, that was some funky blinkin colored light show! What'd you call those things again?"
"Traffic lights?"
"Traffic lights. Solid."
- —Jazz discovers the wonderful world of commuting with the help of Bulkhead.
Bulkhead: It's no good! These things are rolling off the assembly line faster than I can smash 'em!
Jazz: Is it always like this on this crazy planet?
Prowl: Pretty much.
- —Jazz learns that Prime's crew has anything but a quiet life.
"Hey, why is my office locked?"
"Miss Sumdac, I regret to inform you that your services will no longer be required. The board has unanimously elected me to take over as CEO of Sumdac Systems."
"You can't do that! This is still my family's company!"
"Is it? I took the liberty of doing some research into your claim. It might interest you to know that there is no will, no birth certificate, no adoption papers, social security number, or any kind of record for a 'Sari Sumdac'."
"Are you saying I can't prove I'm Isaac Sumdac's daughter?"
"I'm saying you can't even prove you exist."
- —Sari and Porter C. Powell create a drastic change in plot.
Other notes
Continuity errors
- If Sari doesn't exist, as evidenced by the printout, why is her picture on it?
Transformers references
- The force-field that Sentinel uses to quarantine the area around the ship is highly reminiscent of the Sentinel security system in Beast Wars.
- This episode reveals that both Jazz and Prowl are practitioners of the Cybertronian martial art of Metallikato, originally used by the Generation 1 character Bludgeon.
Real-world references
Miscellaneous trivia
- Megatron is evidently fully repaired now, while his subordinates are having trouble keeping their arms from falling off. Guy's got priorities, certainly.
- We don't know what's happened to Starscream's body (alive or dead). Presumably he's either crawled off somewhere or been retrieved by Megatron, since it doesn't seem to have occurred to Optimus to use him as evidence of Decepticon activity.
- When they're being "decontaminated", Bulkhead remarks that the Jackass... er, Sentinel doesn't remember them, to which Bumblebee replies thats how he wants to it that way. Could they have met him before and don't want him to remember? Or is it a reference to their little video chat when they found the AllSpark?
- So, what is the deal with Sari, anyway?
