Master Blaster
Template:Episodenav Writers: Eric Torin
Quickstrike gains control over the body of Optimus Primal to give the Predacons access to the Ark. Only Blackarachnia is left to free her comrades and stop Megatron's plan to increase his power.
Characters (in order of appearance): Silverbolt Tarantulas Quickstrike Megatron Inferno Dinobot II Waspinator Primal Cheetor Rattrap Blackarachnia Rampage Rhinox
Original air date: March 1, 1999
Summary
Silverbolt dutifully patrols the Maximal's fortified entrace to Mt. St. Hillary. Megatron, trying another attack on the Maximal's base, sends sub-commander Waspinator with a large explosive (where do they keep getting them) to destroy the patrolling fuzor. Waspinator delivers the missile and destroy Doggy-bot's gunning turret. When Primal, Cheetor, and Rattrap rush outside to defend their home, Waspinator commands a full attack. But without support from additional troops, Waspinator is quickly crushed by Primal.
Tarantulas, hiding out of Primal's sights, blows a dart, that burrows itself into Primal's foot, crawls through the Maximal leader's interior machinery, and accesses Primal's own spark. Primal disregards the infection, and in a suspiciously western tone, punches out Cheetor.
Blackarachnia returns to the Maximal base, surprised by the open doors. She finds the entire interior dark. Primal sneaks up on the arachnid, and when she reveals that Depth Charge isn't with her, he grabs her like she were a toy. With the widow restrained, Megatron and his crones step out of the darkness. Quickstrike is revealed to be the pilot of Optimus - and is also pilotting a large mechanical suit with equal proportions to Optimus. The other Maximals are shown to be kept deactivated in a hanging cage.
Meanwhile, Quickstrike uses Primal's body to give Megatron access to the Ark's interior. Megatron walks through the halls of the ship to find what he's looking for - his namesake Megatron. The Predacon leader opens his own chest, and a tentacle reaches out of it to access the spark of his predecessor. After a bit of struggle, Megatron takes both sparks into his body. While Megatron convulses in the pain of having a second spark in his body, Quickstrike - secretly working for Tarantulas - dumps Megatron(s?) into one of the lava pits outside.
Blackarachnia is left in the care of Rampage, who delights in causing pain for the Maximal female. But she overpowers the massive transmetal crab by using her telekinesis to toss a steel girder to down the psychopath. She sneaks through her own base, and to free her own team, she leads Inferno away from the Maximals he's supposed to be protecting and locks him outside.
Quickstrike gives Tarantulas access to Teletraan-1. While Quickstrike is sent away to destroy the Maximals, Tarantulas rigs the Ark to explode - killing all Autobots and Decepticons within it. As he leaves the Ark, Megatron emerges from the laval, the additional spark letting him adapt by growing from a Tyranosaurus into a dragon. Megatron burns the spider who betrayed him, and tosses him into a laval bath in the distance for the mistakes he's made.
Quickstrike, in his armor, finds Blackarachnia. With Optimus's body under his control, he double-teams her. But with a well-placed blast, she causes the two giants to fall over each other. The fall frees Optimus - who remembers what he did under Quickstrike's control and, with Blackarachnia, heads into the Ark to prevent the devastation.
Megatron finds Optimus, and the two enhances transformers battle. While Blackarachnia tries to save The Ark, Megatron shows off his new abilities against his most hated enemy. Blackarachnia saves the Ark with just a single second to spare. Optimus is saved from Megatron by the combined firepower of the other Maximals - who forces Megatron to retreat. But witha captive Spark, Megatron has gained a new advantage in the Beast Wars.
Quotes
Megatron: Ah, sometimes deception is the better part of valor.
Blackarachnia: You'll live to regret this, crab legs.
Rampage: I regret everything, my sweet. Struggle as much as you like, I enjoy it.
Quickstrike: Time to open me up a can of kick-keister!
Teletraan-1: Eight clicks to core implosion.... five.. four... three... two... one... core implosion aborted... all systems normal... have a nice day.
Notes
- Although the toy is a Transmetal 2 and has detailing consistent with the other Transmetal II figures, within the context of the story, Megatron's upgrade has not related to the Transmetal driver and never called a Transmetal 2 in the series. The stylistic difference from "Optimal Optimus" can be attributed to the lava - which Megatron likely wouldn't have survived had he not been in the process of being upgraded - as falling into lava killed Terrorsaur and Scorponok.
Continuity errors
- Megatron is not shown putting G1 Megatron's spark back in its body. Even at the end of the series, the spark was never shown again, nor was it even mentioned that it had been replaced. There is only Primal's statement that "all is as it should be" (made in Nemesis, Part 2) to go on. However, the spark's replacement was written into the Nemesis script and even animated -- it was simply cut for time from the final episode. A clip of this animation can be seen on BWTF.com's page for this episode and was included as an extra in Kid Rhino's DVD release of Beast Wars season 3.
Transformers references
- Well, there is the original Megatron, but he's only in stasis lock.
Real-world references
- Megatron counts "Six little Maximals, I've almost collected the whole set!" several Transformer fans collect the toys - and many fans make a point to collect specifically the toys of characters appearing on the show.
- While revealing himself in his new Transmetal 2 form, Megatron cries out "Enter the dragon!", which is also the title of a Bruce Lee movie.
- The title of the episode, "Master Blaster" is also the title of an old computer game, and a song by Stevie Wonder.
Trivia
- The frame used by Quickstrike in this episode is used by the Vok to create Primal Prime
