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Bumblebee practices his "B-list celebrity at a convention photo-op" pose.
"Dark Birth"
Season	2
No. in season	6
Production company	Allspark Animation
Airdate	August 31, 2019 (Australia/NZ) October 4, 2019 (CN app/website) October 12, 2019 (USA)
Writer	Randolph Heard
Director	Ehud Landsberg
Animation studio	Boulder Media Studio
Watch this episode on YouTube

The Autobots attack Megatron, believing he has the Allspark, while Starscream creates a terrible new army.

Synopsis

On the moon, Megatron hurls Starscream's limp body from the Nemesis, certain he has finished the traitor for good. The ship departs for earth, but Starscream's optics slowly blink back to life to see Cheetor looking down at him. Cheetor takes off for parts unknown, leaving an open GroundBridge behind. Seeing the new opportunity offered to him, Starscream cackles...

Aboard the Ark Cheetor explains that he was once one with the Allspark, but was brought to Earth and given his bestial form to act as the AllSpark's guardian. For many years, Cheetor traveled through the GroundBridges with the Allspark before one day encountering Bumblebee and Windblade in the desert. Since then, he has continued to observe the Autobots and Decepticons, hoping they would achieve peace so he could bring them to the AllSpark. The Autobots speculate that with the Decepticons now in possession of both the Allspark and Vector Sigma, Megatron could reprogram the AllSpark to create an army of beings of his own design. Knowing the risk this poses, Optimus Prime decides that they must take the fight to Decepticons. On the Nemesis, Megatron fumes over Starscream's theft of the Allspark and Vector Sigma, and declares he must be stopped.

In the abandoned missile silo, a fanatical Starscream gloats over his new prize and boasts to the other seekers. Thinking he had been terminated by Megatron, Starscream believes his spark traveled to the Allspark and returned, and that he is destined to bring about an era of peace and return their race to the Allspark by terminating all other Transformers. Slipstream attempts to convince the others of Starscream's madness, but the others have completely bought into Starscream's claims. To demonstrate his power, Starscream uses the Allspark to bond a nearby excavator to himself as his new spark armor.

Shockwave's attempts to locate the Allspark prove ineffective, so he instead decides to search for Vector Sigma's unique frequency. Before he can begin, the proximity alarm blares: Optimus and an army of Autobots have arrived to storm the Nemesis and retake the Allspark. With Shockwave needing more time to find Vector Sigma, Megatron orders his troops to attack. While the others keep the Decepticons busy, Cheetor, Hot Rod and Bumblebee infiltrate the ship in search of the Allspark. Cheetor cannot sense its presence and believes the Allspark may have abandoned him for his failure, but the others reassure him. After a brief scuffle with Clobber and Lockdown, Cheetor comes to a realization and demands to speak with Optimus and Megatron immediately. Back at the silo, Acid Storm continues to program Vector Sigma, but their attempts are not working, and Starscream begins to grow impatient. While the two argue, Slipstream attempts to grab the Allspark, but Starscream notices her and knocks her aside. Helping her to her feet, Starscream teases that she has no idea what he can really do with the Allspark...

"Don't cross the streams."

In the Nemesis's hangar, the battle rages on, with Optimus and Megatron locked in combat. The fighting is suddenly interrupted by a powerful roar from Cheetor, who reveals that the Allspark is not on the ship at all, making the fight pointless. Megatron begrudgingly reveals that Starscream stole the Allspark for himself, and Cheetor admits that Starscream likely escaped death by following him through the GroundBridge. Megatron curses Cheetor, claiming he has no idea what he's done. Meanwhile, in the silo, Acid Storm finally finishes the reprogramming. Starscream declares this the beginning of a new era and activates Vector Sigma, watching as its energies intersect with that of the Allspark. As the new program takes hold, The Allspark creates the first of his new army: a small, aggressive insectoid creature. Starscream laughs maniacally as he is surrounded by more and more of his new "children", much to Slipstream's horror...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"What is the Allspark like? The Allspark is like...the Allspark!"
"Ah, yes, of course! It would be very similar to itself, I would imagine."

—Cheetor's tautology is perfectly understandable to Grimlock.

"We cannot allow Megatron to have both the Allspark and Vector Sigma. We must stop Megatron!"
"I will not allow Starscream to have both the Allspark and Vector Sigma! We must stop Starscream!"

—Optimus and Megatron, on the same track from opposite ends.

"Mine is the only Spark to travel to the Allspark and return. I have mingled with the wisdom of the ages!"

—Starscream needs to compare notes with Cheetor.

Clobber: "I'm so tired of fighting Autobots..."
Lockdown: "We better not let anyone see us here!"
Hot Rod: "Don't worry, we won't tell anyone!"

—Fate is tempted, and karma is immediate.

Notes

Continuity notes

• The episode begins with a clip from "Bad Moon Rising" of Megatron tossing Starscream after his seeming execution, before showing what happened to him after the Nemesis departed.
• Cheetor mentions watching Bumblebee perform a "strange ritual" in the desert, referring to his performing donuts around Windblade back in "Fractured".
• Hot Rod informs Clobber and Lockdown of having found the "moon cheetah", the creature he asked the two about previously when being briefly captured by them.

Transformers references

• Starscream claims during his trip to the Allspark to have mingled with "the wisdom of the ages". This is a descriptor given to the life forces of previous Matrix bearers in previous Transformers media, most notably, the episode the concept was introduced, "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4".
• Scraplets are a race that first appeared in the Marvel comic, though they would remain an obscure one-off menace until they made their on-screen debut years later, in the Transformers: Prime episode "Scrapheap." Cyberverse's Scraplets are physically based on their Prime counterparts—vaguely insectoid creatures with massive, toothy mouths. They're also much larger, reaching about the height of Starscream's knees.

Real-world references

• Starscream tells Acid Storm that "Time is the fire in which we all burn." This is a line from the poem "Calmly We Walk Through This April's Day" by Delmore Schwartz; the line was also famously used by Tolian Soran in Star Trek Generations.
• When the Scraplets begin to spawn, Starscream crows "They're heeeere!", a famous quote from the horror movie Poltergeist.

Errors

• The Earth globe appearing during Cheetor's flashback is mostly accurate, save for the Mediterranean extending deep into the territory of Syria, Iran and Turkey.

Trivia

"HERE I AM!"

• Starscream uses an excavator as the basis of his Demolition Destroyer Spark Armor. This differs from the official toy armor, which is instead based on a bulldozer.
• This episode is Laserbeak's first appearance in the show and would be his only appearance in the entirety of season 2. He would appear more frequently in season 3.

Foreign localization

French

• Title: "Ténébreuse naissance" ("Dark Birth")
• Original airdate: September 15, 2019

German

• Title: "Starscreams Auferstehung"
• Original airdate: October 12, 2019

Indonesian

• Title: "Lahirnya Kegelapan" ("Dark Birth")
• Original airdate: October 19, 2019

Japanese

• Title: "Starscream no Yabō" (スタースクリームの野望, "Starscream's Ambition")
• Original airdate: October 12, 2019

Malay

• Title: "Lahirnya Kegelapan" ("Dark Birth")
• Original airdate: October 23, 2019

Portuguese

• Title: "Nascimento Sombrio" ("Dark Birth")
• Original airdate: October 22, 2019

Home video releases

• TBA