Prey (episode)
| The name or term "Prey" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Prey (disambiguation). |
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| "Prey" | ||||||
| Production company | Hasbro Studios | |||||
| Airdate | March 15, 2013 (Singapore) April 5, 2013 (USA) | |||||
| Written by | Marsha Griffin | |||||
| Directed by | Todd Waterman | |||||
| Animation studio | Polygon Pictures | |||||
A new Autobot arrives just as the Decepticons unleash the ultimate hunter.
Synopsis
Shockwave reveals the Predacon he's cloned in his laboratory. Megatron is impressed, and as the scientist gives the Predacon a wiff of Wheeljack's energon, announces that the hunt has begun.
Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Miko scope out an energon mine, planning to blow it up to hopefully draw the attention of nearby Autobots, while in the Harbinger, Raf, Ratchet and Bumblebee work on getting the ship systems up and running. On a deserted road, Arcee introduces Jack to Ultra Magnus, who has followed the Omega beam to Earth. Jack is discouraged by the fact that Ultra Magnus's sensors have only picked up five out of seven Autobots, but Arcee reminds him that the sensors wouldn't pick up shielded Autobots.
Smokescreen heads into Darkmount to find the Forge of Solus Prime and figures it may have been stored within the Nemesis. Using the phase shifter, he moves through the ship and eventually stumbles onto the vault where both Airachnid and the Forge are being stored.
Wheeljack and Bulkhead finish planting explosives in the mine, but as they prepare to detonate, they spot the incoming Predacon. After dodging its initial blast of flame, they try to counterattack, and Wheeljack is knocked flying by the thing's tail. Bulkhead belts the creature shortly before it attacks him with a blast of flame, sending him flying. They quickly realise it's after Wheeljack, who lures it over a grenade. The beast is unscathed by the explosion, so Wheeljack instead leads it into the energon mine before speeding out and setting off the explosions. The dust barely has time to settle before the creature digs its way out. As the Wreckers prepare to fight, Ultra Magnus's ship streaks into view, striking the Predacon with its cannons and picking the trio up. Though a joyous reunion ensues, the ship's still being pursued. His ship's engine is damaged in the chase, and the creature manages to catch up and cling to the hull. Bringing the ship into a narrow canyon, Magnus scraps the Predacon off using a rocky outcropping.
Fowler gets another call he thinks is from Megatron, but this time it's Ratchet, who has hacked into the Decepticon frequencies. Ratchet doesn't have any news of Jack for June, but before he can tell them much else, Bumblebee interrupts the call. Running outside, they find Ultra Magnus's ship landing, and more reunions take place.
The Predacon returns empty-handed to Darkmount, and Starscream reflects that it's a pity the creature can't tell them what went wrong.
Ratchet reports that the Harbinger GroundBridge is fully operational. The group of Autobots is soon joined by Fowler and Jack's mom. They wonder where Smokescreen's gotten to, as all the Autobot traces Magnus could detect are now accounted for. Regardless, they prepare to fight back against Megatron without either of the missing Autobots—Ultra Magnus assumes command and takes the other Autobots to equip themselves with weapons.
Smokescreen drags the Forge back to the cavern where Optimus is sheltered, but Optimus insists the Forge's power is limited and must be conserved to repair the Omega Lock. Smokescreen points out that if Optimus dies, there won't be a Prime to work the Forge, but Optimus says it's time for a new leader, and believes Smokescreen is it.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Quotes
Miko: A dragon?! Where did the 'Cons get a dragon?!
[Bulkhead and Wheeljack look at each other]
Bulkhead and Wheeljack: What's a dragon?
Miko: Giant, flying, fire-breathing lizard!
- — Zoology 101 with the Wreckers.
"Yes! Snuff the Tragic Dragon!"
- —Miko making a funny quip.
Notes
Animation and technical errors
Continuity errors
- Repeating the error from "Darkmount, NV", Ratchet claims that Smokescreen was the last to depart in "Darkest Hour", and only Optimus knows where to. It was Ratchet who set the coordinates each time someone went through the GroundBridge, so he should know where each team member was sent.
- In "Regeneration", Optimus claimed that recreating the Omega Keys was beyond his skill. Unless repairing an existing object doesn't require such skill, it seems even less likely that he or any Autobot given Prime status would be capable of repairing the far more complex device they were intended to operate. For that matter, it seems likely the keys themselves were destroyed in the blast.
Continuity notes
Transformers references
- Taking note of Bumblebee's inverted paint job, Arcee comments that doing the same in her case would render her mostly pink, the dominant color for virtually every other version of Arcee.
Real-world references
- Optimus tells Smokescreen "the fate of all our kind is more vital than any one of us", a variation on Spock's "the needs of the many" line in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- When Miko believes the explosion of the energon mine set off by Bulkhead and Wheeljack has successfully destroyed Predaking, she shouts "Snuff the Tragic Dragon"; a play on the words of the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul, and Mary.
Trivia
- The worldwide premiere screening of the first three episodes was held at the Globe Theater in Universal Studios Hollywood on March 14.
- The worldwide television premiere of "Prey" was a day later on okto, a Singaporean channel, where it aired back-to-back with "Darkmount, NV" and "Scattered".
