« Transformers: Energon ep 14 »
Because the Armada grid is so passé.
"Energon Grid" エネルゴングリッド発動 () (Energon Grid Hatsudō) "Energon Grid Engaged"
Production company	TV Tokyo, NAS
Airdate	9 April 2004 (Japanese) July 1, 2004 (English)
Writer	Akira Okeya
Director	Naoki Ōhira
Animation studio	Actas, Studio A-CAT (3D)
Continuity	Unicron Trilogy

Megatron creates three giant comets and launches them at the Earth, intending to devastate the planet.

Synopsis

Megatron strains so hard the CGI renderer can't keep up.

Unicron's body shakes and rattles, as Megatron struggles to create several "comets" to destroy Earth and the Autobots, inspired by Scorponok's attempt to crush the Autobots with the mobile fortress on the Moon. Scorponok is angry that he's not leading the mission, as Tidal Wave and the others push the comets toward Earth. Alpha Q observes and speculates that this will destroy the whole planet... making it easy for him to collect the energon.

Carlos detects the three comets approaching. Scorponok wonders why they aren't using the warp gate; Tidal Wave replies that the purpose of the attack is to strike fear into the humans.

The Autobots work to get the energon grid fully operational before the comets arrive in six hours. Lunar City is protected, and the troops move on to Ocean City. Soon only Desert City remains, but the tower output there isn't at full strength yet. Kicker, Misha and Ironhide wait for the fireworks.

Megatron decides that once all the humans are dead, he wants their sparks brought to him, so he can create a new batch of soldiers. Demolishor tells him that won't work.

C'mon, gizza lookee!

Dr. Jones still can't locate the problem, so Kicker and Misha head to Desert City aboard Jetfire, with Ironhide following. Jetfire lifts Kicker and Ironhide up to the suborbital portion of the tower.

As the reformatted Cyclonus remains bound to the wall, Megatron laughs in anticipation of Earth's destruction and the Autobots' fear. Demolishor reflects that he's becoming mad with his own power, but when Megatron asks, he simply offers up that Optimus Prime's destruction will be a good thing.

Prime and Hot Shot meet up with Jetfire in space. If the grids fail, Lunar City will be the front line, and the Autobots will have to stop the comets themselves. Alpha Q watches and speculates that they can't possibly do it, and that the energon will be his soon.

Ironhide lowers Kicker deep into the darkness of the tower, noting as he does that if they don't fix the problem, it's all over. Ironhide wonders why humans bother struggling to survive when they have such short lives; Kicker replies that it's just part of being alive, and that every human wants to live as long as possible. Ironhide doesn't quite get it.

Geronimo!

Suddenly, Kicker sees something in the darkness. Ironhide's lights reveal a pair of blue-colored Terrorcons, who attack. Ironhide shoots down their energon weapons. Alpha Q tells one of the Blackouts that he must not shoot at the human and the Autobot...a voice that Kicker hears. Alpha Q reviews Ironhide and Kicker's conversation.

Kicker reports in to Misha, who sends a Skyblast to check out the problem. Ironhide and Kicker suddenly see several inert Omnicons below the two Terrorcons. They deduce that there was a battle; Misha says they can't get there in time, and Kicker will have to handle it.

The comets have passed Mars, so Prime's team prepares to engage them.

Kicker takes Ironhide's energon star, reasoning that it will lure the Terrorcons out. When they fail to follow, he realizes that they're damaged and can't fly, so he leaps down to them. They open fire, hitting Ironhide.

The comets are nearly to Earth. Megatron and Demolishor arrive to watch the show, the latter not so happy about it. At Lunar City, Inferno orders the city's defenses to attack the passing comet; Prime's team also attacks, though it seems to be doing little good.

Eat up, my pretties...

Kicker offers the energon star to the Terrorcons, saying that they just need a little help. Alpha Q is intrigued.

Suddenly, Hot Shot and Prime see a fleet of blue-hued Terrorcons approaching... led by Rodimus! The creatures smash into the comet, breaching its hull; Rodimus enters and destroys it from within. Megatron responds by deciding to smash the other two into Earth.

The Terrorcons eat the energon and self-heal; Kicker calls in to Misha. Outside, the other two are approaching. Prime's team magically glows with the power of energon, and tries to push them away. Megatron observes with delight, as tidal waves begin to rise on Earth. Dr. Jones orders Prime's team to clear out, as the grid activates just in time, destroying the comets. The Decepticons retreat under fire from Ocean City, and the Autobots enjoy the fireworks.

Kicker senses a ship of unknown origin, landing near the city. He realizes it's come to pick up the two stray Terrorcons. It lifts off into the sky and through the grid. Ironhide realizes it's a Cybertronian ship and wonders who's piloting it; Kicker votes to just let them go, certain that it's a friend, possibly Rodimus. Ironhide reveals that he put a homing device on one of the Terrorcons, which he regards as a great joke on Kicker, prompting Kicker to kick him.

Alpha Q wonders why he helped the Autobots, and how Rodimus controls the Terrorcons; he decides that Kicker is the key to the energon.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Once we've destroyed the Earth, collect the energon and bring me all of the humans' sparks as well. I think I'm going to use them to create a new batch of soldiers for my army."
"But, sir. You can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Well, the humans' spark is fragile."
"WHAT?! Impossible! Their spark's not eternal?"
"One life. That's all they've got."
"Bahh. Then they really are poorly designed."

—Megatron and Demolishor bring you your dose of nonsensical dialog discuss the drawbacks of human anatomy.

"Whoah. That's amazing!"
"It's the power of energon."

—Ironhide and Kicker watch a Terrorcon self-heal, and really really really want you to buy those toys.

Notes

Differences with Super Link

• Energon adds in a lot of explication about Megatron's plan in the early scenes, which were mostly silent for Super Link.
• Alpha Q wonders if it's right to allow Earth to be destroyed, a point lost in Energon.
• Energon changes the Desert City tower's output from 10 percent to 70 percent—quite a difference.
• Demolishor tells Megatron that humans don't have sparks, and that if they die, that's it for them. Megatron replies that they're an inferior species. Energon warps this conversation around a bit, making it sound rather nonsensical (see quotes above).
• In Super Link, Megatron more pointedly asks Demolishor if he still has feelings for Earth.
• Ironhide and Kicker's conversation on the nature of human life isn't changed much for Energon, but it also omits Kicker likening his own life to the glow of fireworks, thereby diminishing a running theme of the episode.
• Misha responds to Kicker that she already sent Skyblast(s) to investigate, thereby explaining where the inert Omnicons came from. Energon mutates this into her saying she will send Omnicons, only to say a second later that her group can't get there in time.
• Energon no longer explicitly states that one of the comets has pulled ahead of the other two, though it remains discernible from the animation... sorta.
• Alpha Q's closing self-conversation is more a debate on whether he wants to help the Autobots and protect the Earth. Energon makes this somewhat less clear.

Pain count

• "Uh?": 17
• "We've gotta": 1
• "Take it Easy": 1
• "No way": 1
• "What's going on": 1
• "Aw, great": 1

Animation and technical errors

• Kicker tells Ironhide to hold the light steady, when it's the rope that's moving around. The same error repeats in Super Link.
• The clip showing the tracker on one of the Terrorcons is reused in the next episode after the Terrorcon had been discovered spying on Megatron. The incapacitated state that the Terrorcon is in would indicate that this close-up was actually made for the next episode rather than this one; meaning this episode is the one that reuses the clip. Confused yet?

Continuity notes

• Following his upgrade last episode, Snow Cat (formerly known as Cyclonus) is still restrained by the cables Megatron used to upgrade him.
• Gadgets and powers:
  • The Autobots actually use their energon stars to boost their power this episode.
  • Optimus Prime switches Fire-1 and Digger-3 from arm and leg mode respectively.
• Powerlinx forms:
  • Optimus Prime Super Mode
  • Optimus Prime Super Mode (alternate Fire-1 and Digger-3 configuration)

Continuity errors

• A comical moment relies on Ironhide barely managing to grab hold of Jetfire as he flies up the tower, in defiance of all the Transformers' previously-demonstrated ability to fly just about anywhere.
• If the Terrorcons are draining the tower's energon, why do they need to be given energon to heal themselves?
• Kicker and Ironhide never did anything to actually fix the tower (on screen, at least).

Trivia

• Richard Newman stands in for Megatron this episode. Oddly, Newman was never a part of the Energon cast, meaning he was called in for this one-off voiceover role.
• As Jetfire arrives at Desert City, one of the Omnicons in the background is rather amusingly kicking his legs around as he's pulled up by a cable.

Foreign localization

Italian

• Title: "La griglia di energon" ("The Energon Grid")

• The problem about Kicker telling Ironhide to hold the light steady instead of the rope is solved since he, istead, simply tells him to give him some light.
• Interestingly, in this episode Hot Shot calls Rodimus "Rodimus Prime", as in G1.

Home video releases

DVD

2004 — Transformer: Super Link — Volume 004 (Interchannel) — Japanese audio only.
2008 — Transformers: Energon — The Ultimate Collection (Paramount)
2014 — Transformers: Energon — The Complete Series (Shout! Factory)