Crisis! Ambush in the Desert
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 OBJECTION! | ||||||
| "Crisis! Ambush in the Desert" (Kiki! Sabaku no Machibuse) | ||||||
| Production company | Takara, Toei | |||||
| Airdate | 12 September 1989 | |||||
| Writer | Yoshihisa Araki | |||||
| Director | Hiromichi Matano | |||||
| Animation studio | Toei | |||||
| Continuity | Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity | |||||
The Brainmasters stumble into a Decepticon trap in the desert, but luckily for them, Greatshot is on hand to help.
- Omni Productions dub name: "Ambush in the Desert"
Synopsis
Deciding to visit the Autobots on Earth, the weary Greatshot arrives on the planet and spends the night sleeping in a seaside cave. Awakening the next morning, he looks out over the ocean... only to have the Thunder Arrow suddenly burst out of the water!
Meanwhile, the Autobots, currently stationed on the Tibetan Plateau, receive word of an attack by the Dinoforce on an oil field in the desert. With Blacker confident that the Dinoforce will pose little problem, the Brainmasters head out aboard Galaxy Shuttle with the Rescue Team, while Star Saber remains on standby in the Shuttle Base. Gōryū immediately spots the airborne Autobots as they fly towards the oil field, but merely smirks, instructing the Dinoforce to carry on draining energy. The reason for his complacency soon makes itself clear, as Killbison and Drillhorn burst out of the sand and blast the unsuspecting Galaxy Shuttle out of the sky. As the Brainmasters climb out of the wreck and return fire, the two Breastforcers turn tail, and the Autobot trio quickly transform and give chase. This, it turns out, is all part of the plan, as Laster and Braver find themselves unable to manoeuvre in the deep sand, leaving them wipe open for enemy fire. As a dune buggy, Blacker is still able to move freely, and occupies Killbison while his team-mates transform and tackle the burrowing Drillhorn.
Back at the oil field, the Rescue Team formulate a plan to rescue the captive workers, who are being guarded by the sleeping Kakuryū. The approach they decide to take is a direct one—Fire transforms to vehicle mode and rolls right up to the prehistoric pea-brain, who awakens just in time to be blinded by a deluge of foam from Fire's cannons. The workers are rushed to safety aboard Galaxy Shuttle, as the foam-covered Kakuryū staggers away. He eventually finds his way to Gōryū, and requests permission to wash himself off.
Out in the desert, Laster and Braver fall afoul of Drillhorn's subterranean scheme, as he lures them into a patch of loose sand, where they promptly sink up to their waists. As Blacker arrives to help, but can't because he will sink too if he transforms, Leozack and Gaihawk emerge from beneath the sand, cackling over the successful deployment of their plan. The Brainmasters merge into Road Caesar in an attempt to use his strength to break free, but the gestalt only winds up sinking faster, unable to even focus his energy thanks to the hail of Ice Needles Gaihawk rains down upon him. The trio are separated back into their component parts, and Blacker finds Killbison's blaster jammed into the side of his head. Thankfully, Greatshot chooses this moment to arrive, and Gaihawk immediately takes to the sky in search of revenge. Greatshot tricks him into colliding with Leozack, and the two villains are grounded, but they keep up the fight... or rather, they run as fast possible to avoid being run over by the six-changer's car mode. Suddenly, a chasm opens up in the desert sand and Greatshot tumbles in, finding himself on top of the rising Thunder Arrow, which had concealed itself beneath the sand.
Deathsaurus appears to confront Greatshot himself, impaling his arm with an arrow from his Breast Animal weapon. Hellbat and Jarugar also appear and attack Greatshot from both sides, but at the last moment, Blacker leaps to his aid, and has his arm blown off in the effort. With one Autobots injured and two buried in sand, things look bad... but luckily, Jean has called on Star Saber for help, and the Supreme Commander comes swooping down out of the sky to quickly airlift Braver and Laster out of the sand so they can get Blacker to safety. While Star Saber transforms to robot mode and clashes with Deathsaurus atop the Thunder Arrow, Greatshot hacks his way through the Breastforce, forcing them to pull out—much to Gaihawk's frustration. With his opponents beating a retreat, Greatshot goes to Star Saber's aid, and together, the pair cripple the Thunder Arrow and leave Deathsaurus with no option but the better part of valor. At the same time, Braver and Laster leave Blacker in the care of the Rescue Team and return to the oil field, quickly disposing of the Dinoforce by blowing up their energon cubes.
As the Autobots get back together after the battle, everyone crowds around the injured Blacker. Although he downplays the seriousness of his wounds, he admits that he was too careless in his strategy. Star Saber prefers to think of him as brave, but he can see that the Decepticons are growing desperate, and that Autobot resolve must tighten.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Breast Animals |
|---|---|---|---|
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Quotes
"I do not have time to play with you!"
"You're still gonna play with us!"
- —Greatshot and Leozack
"I will not forgive a single interloper!"
- —Deathsaurus
"Huh? How dare they retreat without permission! I suppose there's no point in me straining myself..."
- —Deathsaurus noting he has achieved his evil deed quota for the week.
"Sure, chief, there's only the dinosaurs — that's no problem. We'll take care of them very easily."
- —Blacker on the Dinoforce's fearsome reputation.
"I don't get it! Our concentrated energy is being dissipated right now!"
- —Road Caesar
"You evil swine!"
- —Star Saber
Notes
Lost in translation
Among the changes made by the Omni Productions dub:
- The narrator specifically mentions that Greatshot is on his way to Earth from Micro.
- While Galaxy Shuttle is crashing, Braver announces "Come on Decepticons, we're not scared of you!" instead of mentioning the important information that the landing gear is busted.
- While applying first aid to Blacker, Pīpō reports that his "control computer" is undamaged.
Continuity errors
- There is a short and positively bizarre scene dropped into the middle of this episode, in which Greatshot comes upon a bunch of dead robots in the middle of the desert. He removes a photo of a robot family (!) from the hand of one corpse, and then crumples it, angrily demanding to know what the Decepticons are planning. The implication, one supposes, is that he's followed the Thunder Arrow this way, and that the Decepticons have killed these robots. Which would be all well and good, except that it's got nothing to do with the rest of the episode. The Decepticons aren't planning anything that requires randomly killing some robots… and much more importantly, who the hell are these dead robots, anyway?! There's never been any indication that there are any Autobots on Earth except Star Saber's team!
- The sand is shown to be level around the hole which Greatshot falls into, yet after the buried Thunder Arrow rises into the air, there's clearly a huge section right behind said hole which should have been sticking out of the sand!
Transformers references
- Greatshot returns after his previous appearances in “Planet Micro - The Mysterious Warrior" and “Rescue! Gaihawk".
- Gaihawk's troubled past with Greatshot was covered in “Rescue! Gaihawk".
Real-world references
- Killbison refers to the impending destruction of the Brainmasters as the "end of the Three Autobot Musketeers".
Miscellaneous trivia
- Yet another episode that does away with the standard Victory title cards, and presents the title as white text on a black screen.
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Victory — DVD Box 01 (Pioneer LDC) — Japanese audio only.
2006 — The Takara Collection Vol 3 — Transformers: Victory (Metrodome)
2007 — Transformers — The Complete Takara Collection (Metrodome)
2008 — The Transformers: Victory (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
2009 — The Transformers: Japan Generation 1 — Complete Collection (Madman Entertainment) — Optional Omni dub.
