Survival Instincts
| ||||||
| File:22 titlecard.jpg | ||||||
| "Survival Instincts" (Bōsō! Ueta Unicron) "Out of Control! The Starving Unicron" | ||||||
| Production company | WE'VE | |||||
| Airdate | 4 June 2004 (Japanese) 27 August, 2004 (English) | |||||
Starved for energon, both Unicron's head and body begin lashing out at their respective captors.
Synopsis
Dozens of Decepticon ships flee Cybertron's surface. Huge numbers of them are shot down by automated guns or else crash into the energon shield as it activates. Still, plenty escape, and Megatron and Starscream eagerly await their arrival. However, the new recruits are quickly judged to be useless as anything but cannon fodder. Suddenly, Megatron seems to hear...something.
Unicron's head is glowing a strange green color. Within, Optimus tells Alpha Q that he remains uncertain about using Unicron, despite the alien's reassurances that Unicron is under his control. Optimus prepares to go defend Cybertron, which remains his top priority. All assembled noticed strange creaking and groaning within Unicron's head.
Unicron's body, meanwhile, is also glowing green. Within, a trio of Decepticon troopers are wandering about, exploring. Nearby, something stirs within the monster's depths. Just as Demolishor finds the three troopers, a huge spike emerges from the wall, impaling and killing one of them. The other two flee and are similarly killed. Demolishor manages to avoid dozens more of the same spikes, fleeing and begging Megatron to stop. In his control chair, Megatron groans in anger at Unicron.
Snowcat, put in charge of the new recruits, is having fun putting them through drills, but in the middle of a "face left", they're all impaled and killed by the spikes. Snowcat himself dances around the spikes, as does Starscream, who finds dozens of speared Terrorcons, their energon bleeding away.
Shockblast finds Megatron overwhelmed by tentacles, and he and Tidal Wave nearly come to blows.
Aboard Unicron's head, Alpha Q is having similar problems. While the Autobots fight off the spikes, falling debris destroys Rodimus's ship. The Miranda II rescues Prowl and Landmine. Within, Optimus orders Hot Shot and Ironhide to get the humans out, as Alpha Q says he can no longer control Unicron.
The Autobots regroup on Unicron's surface, and Optimus theorizes that Unicron has reverted to his basic survival instincts. Misha wonders if Unicron needs energon. Rodimus asks to borrow a few Omnicons from Optimus.
Rodimus, Kicker, Ironhide and the Omnicons head into Cybertron, while the Miranda II carries the rest away to defend Cybertron. Misha asks to be left on Unicron as well, so Hot Shot is ordered to stay with her. Within, Rodimus's crew fight their way through more of Unicron's defense spikes.
On Cybertron, Jetfire and Inferno search through the downed Decepticon ships. Optimus, meanwhile, checks in with Primus, who tells him that Rodimus made the right decision in using the Omnicons and gives Optimus a history lesson:
- The Omnicons were "Autobot and Decepticon fighters that Rodimus brought with him eons ago." Rodimus led them away from Cybertron's wars to find "a great planet" that waited to be revived by their powers. After their departure, the two sides learned to live together. This was not easy for Megatron, who was "programmed to lead". But soon, even he realized that a war for supremacy was pointless, and the warriors turned their swords into plowshares. Both sides mined energon and realized there was no need to battle anymore. They evolved into the Transformers of today.
Primus still holds out hope that an endless source of energon will bring the fighting to an end. He says that the Omnicons know where to find it...and a new warrior will help them do so...
Rodimus's team hits a dead end; the Omnicons are trapped, separated from the Autobots and threatened by more of Unicron's spikes. Unable to get through by force, Kicker calls on Alpha Q for help. The alien is having his own troubles, but with some encouragement, fights back, freeing the Omnicons.
A pink motorcycle drives through space.
Back within Unicron, the Omnicons are too frightened to move after their recent encounter with the spikes.
Optimus, Inferno and the pink motorcycle arrive at Unicron via space bridge. Kicker and Ironhide are still having trouble getting the Omnicons to move, until the pink motorcycle arrives and transforms into Arcee, the "first female Omnicon to evolve thanks to energon." Optimus explains that she organized a plan that allowed "the Omnicons to survive on their desolate planet", inspiring them with a sense of purpose.
Meanwhile, Misha stares intently at nothing.
Arcee rallies the troops and introduces herself to Kicker. She orders him aboard as she transforms back to 'cycle mode and rides off. The Omnicons follow, heading toward Unicron's core.
Deep within Unicron, his...organic brain glows green. The Omnicons arrive and begin feeding Energon stars to it. Alpha Q and Scorponok immediately find themselves freed from the tentacle attack, and the Omnicons cheer.
Optimus tells Rodimus that they'd have a second chance at peace...if only there were enough energon for all sides.
Demolishor howls in despair, surrounded by spikes...but the attack has stopped. Despite the decimation of his troops, Megatron is pleased by Unicron's hunger and intends to feed him a main course of... Planet Cybertron!
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Quotes
"My orders are to roll out with extreme caution."
"Would you care to elaborate, Optimus Prime?"
"I'm not really sure. You see, Unicron is a far more advanced planet than Cybertron, and I'm afraid I can't predict that."
- —Optimus Prime and Alpha Q, not so much having a conversation as reacting to summaries of each other's statements.
"I was worried something like this might happen."
"Too late now. Just keep fighting!
- —Optimus Prime says "I told you so", but Rodimus reminds them of bigger concerns.
"Alive!"
"Alive!"
"Alive!"
"What are you babbling about?"
- —
the dub's dialogAlpha Q's rallying cry does not impress Scorponok
"Okay, Kicker. Where exactly are we going?"
"We have to reach the core of Unicron's head. That's where we have to feed him the energon. So to answer your question, Arcee, just keep going!"
"Huh?"
"Never mind. I'll tell you when we get there. The plan is to feed Unicron some energon to calm him down."
- — Arcee needs to ask Kicker more specific questions if she doesn't want to get the exact same answer over and over.
Ironhide: Is it time for action yet? I'm bored.
[Kicker kicks Ironhide]
Kicker: Hey! You mind not buttin' in on Optimus's business for once?
Ironhide: You mind not kicking? Huh?
- —Ironhide and Kicker make us wonder why they're friends.
Arcee: We did it, little man!
Kicker: Hey! What's with this 'little man' business?! I'm not your little— [kicks Ironhide]
Ironhide: —YEOW!! What're ya kickin' me for? I didn't do nothin'!
- —It's funnier when Tow-Line says it.
Notes
Lost in translation
- The dub animation is missing a still background image of Unicron's body that the Decepticon ships are supposed to be flying toward.
- Optimus and Alpha Q's conversation, quoted above, seems to suffer from some literal translation; the content is correct, but the dialog doesn't flow coherently.
- The dub seems incredibly eager for Unicron to "come to life"; this is the second time in as many episodes that it has inserted words to that effect where none existed before. In Super Link, Kicker doesn't say that he thinks Unicron is "about to come to life", but simply that something bad is about to happen.
- On a similar note, the dub plays its usual canned Unicron Roar as the scene pans from his body to his head. Super Link features only sound effects.
- The dub plays Prowl and Landmine's escape as if they're going to rescue Inferno on the Miranda II, instead of being rescued by him.
- Rodimus's "great planet" is a dub mangulation; originally he speaks metaphorically of building a new world.
- The dub scrambles Primus's story of the Omnicons, making it sound like the Autobots and Decepticons left behind on Cybertron were the ones who learned to work together and mine energon. The flashback's visuals show a horde of robots charging with swords, only to use those swords to start mining energon rather than fighting. The dub gets confused by this, adding in a made-up mention of Megatron; the result is a story wherein Megatron agreed to peace, then decided to attack again, then decided to settle down and mine energon for a while. And finally, in the dub, Primus says that these robots evolved into "the Transformers of today"; they're supposed to evolve into the Omnicons of today.
- Dub Primus mentions an unlimited source of energon that exists somewhere. Once again, it's a figure of speech that the dub takes literally.
- The dub has Kicker explain the plan to Arcee two times in a row for no reason (as quoted above.) In Super Link, he says to find a place where Unicron's nerves are concentrated, as feeding the energon there will end the rampage.
Pain count
- "Uh?": 11
- Stock footage: 2
- We need/they want energon: 1
- "You can't be serious": 1
Animation and/or technical glitches
Continuity errors
- The "path that Shockblast created" through the energon grid doesn't seem to be very...extant. Most of the escaping Decepticon ships just run right into the grid and explode.
- Once again, the Omnicons run to where they're going, rather than use their vehicle modes—even though Ironhide is driving right alongside them.
Miscellaneous notes
- When Unicron starts killing the Decepticons, one of the three with Demolishor is speared right through the groin. Unicron is that evil.
- Three spikes = three dead generics. One spike apiece instantly kills every single one of Snowcat's troops. But dozens of spikes all miss hitting Demolishor, Snowcat and Starscream. And the Autobots. And the Omnicons. Wonder why that is?
- Just why the history of the Omnicons needed to be told now is a bit unclear; their history doesn't really add anything to the episode.
- Optimus's description of Arcee may seem a bit silly and over-the-top in the dub...but it's nothing compared to his original description in Super Link, where he essentially describes Arcee as a fragile and perhaps erratic thing to be protected, as well as something to relieve the Omnicons' loneliness. All this...as the camera pans in on Misha.
- To be fair, the actual story portrays Arcee as gutsy, strong-willed, and certainly not in need of anybody's protection.
- And so the story of the generic Decepticons comes to its fantastic conclusion: one episode after being introduced, they've all been wiped out by the energon grid or impaled by Unicron's spikes. Better luck next time, guys!
