« Transformers: Cybertron ep 31 » Galaxy Force ep 32
Gaze upon the glory of naturally-occurring interaction of gears, levers, and pulleys!
"Cybertron" 超絶変形! 開放される力 () (Chōzetsu Henkei! Kaihō sareru Chikara) "Transcendental Transformation! The Released Power"
Production company	TV Aichi, We've, Tōkyū Agency
Airdate	August 13, 2005 (Japanese) April 8, 2006 (English)
Writer	Manabu Ishikawa
Director	Atsuhi Nigorikawa
Animation studio	GONZO, Ashi Productions
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy cartoon continuity

In pitched final battle on Cybertron, Megatron apparently meets his end...but has the Autobots' mission been worth it, or have they only hastened their own destruction?

Synopsis

Burning spirit, now with energy ropes!

Optimus Prime leads the Autobots across the space bridge to Cybertron, hot on the heels of the advance team he has sent ahead with the Omega Lock, consisting of Evac, Override, and Leobreaker. Unfortunately, Megatron and the Decepticons are also in pursuit, and they have the lead on Optimus's team, soon catching up to the Autobot trio when the latter hit a badly warped section of space which the space bridge cannot cross. Sheltering from the Decepticons' weaponsfire behind a chunk of debris, Leobreaker, Evac and Override find themselves filled with the power of the Omega Lock and surrounded by glowing red auras that enable them to levitate over the broken section and continue their journey, towing the Lock behind on ropes of energy. Override is incredulous at this moment of sheer unbelievability, but that doesn't stop Megatron and Scourge from following their lead, summoning up the full extent of their own power and following the Autobots across the void. Even Thunderblast is able to make the trip; Thundercracker, on the other hand, is not so lucky and gets tossed off into space by the dimensional warp. Ransack and Crumplezone decide not to risk their own necks following, and Mudflap, disgusted with the Decepticons' lack of comradeship, decides to take the space bridge back to Earth.

On Cybertron itself, the Cybertron Defense Team are updated on the situation by Coby, Bud and Lori, who are monitoring everything from Earth. The Defense Team continue to fight off the hordes of Scrapmetal swarming over the planet, and after they clear out the closest cluster of the creatures, Override, Evac and Leobreaker come crashing down out of the sky. They have not made the journey unscathed, and to make matters worse, Megatron's team appears seconds later. Megatron is undamaged by the experience, and he is about to take out all six of the Autobots in front of him when, at last, Optimus Prime's forces arrive. Prime and Wing Saber combine into Sonic Wing Mode and engage Megatron in battle, but during the fight, Megatron craftily downs Leobreaker and steals back the Omega Lock. The Decepticons immediately flee through a dimension gate, but Optimus Prime refuses to let Megatron get away and leaps through the gate after him!

Insert Pink Floyd concert reference here.

Prime and Megatron battle within the fire dimension, and while Prime takes the upper hand, Megatron's Armor of Unicron continues to regenerate him, and he refuses to give up. When the pair's Cyber Key powers collide and cause a massive explosion, the fire dimension is torn open, and Optimus escapes back to Cybertron with the Omega Lock. Before the Decepticons can follow, Optimus instructs Vector Prime to create another warp gate across the one he has just emerged through, which causes the dimension to start collapsing in on top of itself. Megatron uses the full power of the Armor of Unicron to rip open the substance of space physically, allowing Scourge and Thunderblast to escape, but before he can cross through himself, Optimus Prime and Vector Prime combine the Omega Lock with Vector Prime's sword and fire a beam of Cyber Key power straight at him. The beam spears Megatron and overcomes his drained armor, and the fire dimension collapses on the Decepticon leader's body, which explodes in a haze of light, and he finally meets his end.

With the destruction of Megatron, the Autobots are in a celebratory mood, and the kids and Mini-Cons are brought to Cybertron to join in. With everyone gathered together, the Autobots head beneath the planet's surface, following the directions Primus had previously given them to a dome-shaped room containing an altar on which the Omega Lock is to be placed. At Vector Prime's urging, Optimus Prime places the lock upon the altar and transmits energy from the Matrix into it, causing it to pulse with a light that slowly spreads through the room...and across the planet! As the Autobots watch, horror slowly creeps through them as the planet begins to split and break apart! Thinking that their mission has resulted in the destruction of their homeworld, Leobreaker and Jetfire both begin to break down in hysteria, while Override and Evac are caught up trying to get the kids to safety. Wing Saber snaps Optimus out of his daze, and the Autobot leader gets his arguing, panicking troops in order, instructing them to withdraw to Cybertron's moon. From the planet's satellite, the Autobots look down on their still-fracturing home, and Vector Prime realizes that what they are witnessing is too regular for a planetary break-up. As the group watches, the planet shifts...moves...and transforms...into the body of Primus himself!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

Override: What's happening?
Leobreaker: Relax. Just go with it.
Override: This is incredible!
Leobreaker: Nah, stuff like this happens to me all the time.
Crumplezone: Uhhh... Ransack?
Ransack: Yeah, Crumplezone?
Crumplezone: Did something weird just happen or is it just me?
Ransack: No, I think that was pretty weird.

—Transformers on burning spirit

Mudflap: What about Megatron?
Ransack: Oh no, don't pin that on us! Me and the C-Man got our own credo!
Crumplezone & Ransack: Sworn to fun and loyal to none! Hahahahahaha!
Mudflap: You guys are loopy-tunes. I'm going back to Earth!

—Mudflap realizes that maybe being a Decepticon ain't all it's cracked up to be.

"You'll never be rid of me, Optimus Prime! Do you hear me?! NEVER!"

—Megatron, uttering his (seemingly) final words

"Such villainous nonsense."

—Scourge, twisting an old line.

"How can this be happening, Optimus?! How can this be happening?! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE PLANET!!"

—As Cybertron seemingly falls apart, Jetfire has a breakdown of his own.

"He who charted the universe when it was new! He who battled Unicron at the dawn of time! He whose spark formed the basis of all life on Cybertron, and Velocitron, and all the other Transformer colonized homeworlds! It can be no other! This... is... Primus!"

—Vector Prime gives God a suitably dramatic introduction.

Notes

Differences with Galaxy Force

"Yeah, that's pretty weird too."
"I'm scared, Ransack."

• Leobreaker, Override and Evac's crossing the broken space bridge is only a little different between the two versions of the show, but once again a great indicator of the different mentalities between the two shows. In Galaxy Force, they actively summon up the magic glowing auras that surround them by clenching and grunting, and carry the Omega Lock away on streams of energy. In Cybertron, Override has no idea what is happening, and is amazed as the events play out, indicating that they are the Omega Lock's doing. Leobreaker laughs it off, claiming this kind of crazy stuff happens to him all the time, and even Crumplezone and Ransack then talk about how weird it was. The show fails to work in any explanation for how Megatron, Scourge and Thunderblast do it, however, (save for Megatron's commenting that it is "a matter of power"), although we can presumably take it that they're channeling energon, which was Cybertron's explanation for Megatron and Starscream's magic glowing in "Starscream".
• In another moment of burning spirit, when Optimus has Megatron battered and on the ropes, the Decepticon leader roars, glows, and is suddenly fine. In Galaxy Force, this is unexplained. In Cybertron, it is attributed to the Armor of Unicron regenerating his wounds.
• When Megatron tries to reopen the gate, Galaxy Force sets the stakes such that it would swallow all of planet Cybertron. In Cybertron this is changed to Megatron either being stuck there or dying.
• As the kids arrive on Cybertron and look around, Galaxy Force sees Bud wonder if the planet transforms too. That's really a little bit too on the nose, so Cybertron has him make a crack about the kids being the aliens now.
• As Optimus orders retreat, Galaxy Force has Leobreaker ask him if what they have done was wrong. Cybertron instead has Leobreaker apologize to Optimus for losing faith in him.
• As the Autobots prepare to abandon their rapidly-shifting planet, Cybertron has Optimus order everyone to regroup on Cybertron's metal moon (Cybertron has two moons, actually, both of which can be seen in the animation), while Galaxy Force has him direct everyone to the space bridge, which merely gets them off the planet. The animation suggests that Galaxy Force's directive is more screen-accurate.

Animation or technical glitches

• Thunderblast's voice is once again very heavily amplified in this episode, to the point where she barely sounds like herself.
• The Omega Lock is consistently shown with all three of the found-so-far Cyber Planet Keys installed until the conclusion of Primus' transformation scene at the end, at which point all three Keys have mysteriously vanished.

Continuity and plotting errors

• Soooo, how did Optimus's team get through the warped section of the space bridge? More magic grunting?

Transformers references

• We get another "By the Allspark!". Shortly afterwards, Optimus gives the similar exclamation "By Primus!".
• Scourge's line, quoted above, is of course a reference to the original Megatron's famous line from The Transformers: The Movie, "Such heroic nonsense."
• In Vector Prime's introductory speech for Primus, also quoted above, he drops several references to aspects of Primus's history established in other media such as the Generation 1 Marvel comics, the Fleer Armada trading cards, and Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, but not otherwise mentioned in the Cybertron cartoon.

Trivia

• Hot Shot calls the Scrapmetals "little buggers!". This is a very rude word in the United Kingdom.
• This episode contains the first display of self-awareness by Hot Shot that his new Defense Team alt mode (a heavily armed and armored truck) is not nearly as fast as his previous one (a sleek sports car). For a 'bot crazy for speed, this sure took a long time for him to realize. Of course, they have been battling pretty much nonstop since his reconstruction. This introspective observation, incidentally, is absent in Galaxy Force.
• Optimus' battle with Megatron in the Fire Dimension evokes the image of a hero fighting a demon in the depths of Hell. Very cool.
• This episode would later be combined with "United", "Balance" and "Darkness" to create the TV "movie" special, "Primus Unleashed".
• Megatron dies in this episode, seemingly for good, only to come back a few episodes later. This parallels Armada, where Optimus Prime was the one to apparently die permanently, then be resurrected in the span of fewer than five episodes. Consider this Prime's payback.

Home video releases

DVD

2006 — Transformers: Galaxy Force — Vol. 08 (Victor Entertainment) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Cybertron — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)