Runaway
| ||||||
| ||||||
| "Runaway" (Kakurega) "Run Away: Refuge" | ||||||
| Production code | TF: A-30 | |||||
| Production company | TV Tokyo, NAS | |||||
| Airdate | March 22, 2003 (English) 1 August 2003 (Japanese) | |||||
| Writer | Isao Shizuya | |||||
| Director | Mihiro Yamaguchi | |||||
| Animation studio | Actas Inc. | |||||
| Continuity | Unicron Trilogy | |||||
The kids try to help the Space Mini-Con Team escape from the Decepticons and the Autobots by running away.
Synopsis
On the Moon, Tidal Wave and Megatron are undergoing repairs and a tune-up following their defeat by the Requiem Blaster. Thrust attempts to allay Megatron's concerns about the Autobots.
Meanwhile, the Autobots are having a heated debate about the Space Mini-Con Team. Optimus Prime is hesitant to use them in battle, given their obvious reluctance to fight, while the other Autobots (particularly Jetfire and Hot Shot) argue that it'd be better to use their power to destroy the Decepticons in one fell swoop. However, before Optimus can come to a decision, the Autobots realize the Mini-Cons in question are missing...
Rad, Carlos, Alexis, Billy and Fred are conspiring to sneak the Space Team away where neither the Autobots nor the Decepticons can find them. Bundling the Mini-Cons up in clothes, they buy bus tickets for Central City and make their getaway (narrowly avoiding detection by an alert canine named Sally) as the Autobots scour the city, intent on capturing the runaways.
However, Thrust has been monitoring human surveillance satellites above the Autobot base, and is puzzled as to why the humans are leading the Mini-Cons away. He becomes even more puzzled when he realizes Optimus Prime is tailing the bus at a distance.
Optimus is thrown off the trail when the runaways disembark in a cornfield and make their way to a dilapidated farmhouse, where the kids help the Mini-Cons set up a series of alarms, early warnings and traps in case the Decepticons come looking for them—as well as engaging in an FCC-mandated level of tomfoolery.
These preparations prove surprisingly useful as Thrust appears on the farm, declaring his intention to seize the Mini-Cons for his own. He is blinded, bruised, roped, tripped, and rolled over in short order, until he's steaming mad. While the booby-traps are insufficient actually to stop the Decepticon, they do buy enough time for Optimus Prime to arrive and drive Thrust off.
As the other Autobots make a belated appearance, Rad delivers an impassioned speech urging the Autobots to see the Mini-Cons as individuals, not tools to be used in their battle with the Decepticons. Optimus Prime agrees, reminding his troops that if they use these Mini-Cons against their will, the Autobots are no better than the Decepticons.
Hot Shot concludes that this means that they will fight with the Mini-Cons as a team, yeah!
(Hot Shot is kinda an idiot.)
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans | Mini-Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Quotes
"Look! Your guardian star is very bright tonight, sir. I believe it might actually swallow up every other star around it! This must surely be a sign you'll crush the Autobots, conquer the universe and lead the Decepticons back to planet Cybertron!"
- —Thrust, astrologer
"Huh, so humans are good for something after all. That's news to me!"
- —Demolishor
"Dear Mom, I just wanna thank you for all the great foods you've made me over the years. I especially enjoyed your spaghetti and meatballs; the sauce was a haunting blend of herbs and spices—and the things you can do with a pot roast are truly inspirational. Yours truly, your son, Fred."
- —Fred's letter home
"Come on, with a little TLC, this place will be good as new!"
- —Alexis auditions to become a real estate agent.
Notes
Differences with Micron Legend
Animation and technical errors
- Starscream and Demolishor are noticeably off-model in the first scene at the Decepticon base—their heads are the size of their torsos.
- When Thrust is giving Megatron his fortune, the color for his eyes seems to have slipped down a bit so it appears he's blushing.
- In the first scene with the Autobots, Longarm appears miscolored as Sparkplug.
Trivia
- The kanji 逃走 would be pronounced as "tousou", while "kakurega" is used for 隠れ家.
- Thrust has to explain to Cyclonus and Demolishor what artificial satellites are; the concept is foreign to Transformers.
- Wow, Sparkplug was gone for a whole three seconds before reporting that the Space Mini-Con Team was gone.
- Why doesn't Red Alert use his siren to get through the traffic?
Foreign localization
German
- Title: "Die Flucht der Mini-Cons" ("The Escape of the Mini-Cons")
- Original airdate: This episode was never shown on TV, but was dubbed in 2003. The dub premiered in 2009 with the German DVD release of the show.
Hungarian
- Title: "Menekülés" ("Escape")
Polish
- Title: "Ucieczka" ("Escape")
Home video releases
- DVD
2003 — Transformers: Micron Legend — Volume 8 (Columbia Music Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2003 — Transformers: Armada — Vol:10 (Warner Music Video)
2004 — Transformers: Armada — Power of the Mini-Cons (Rhino Entertainment)
2006 — Transformers: Armada — Season One: Part Two (Rhino Entertainment)
2009 — Transformers: Armada — Volume Two (New KSM) — English and German audio.
